PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS 



FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF 



MR. MONROE'S ADMINISTRATION, IN 1817, 



TO THE CLOSE OF 



MR. FILLMORE'S ADMINISTRATION, IN 1853. 



BY 

NATHAN SARGENT, 

LATH COMMISSIONER OF CUSTOMS (FORMERLY KNOWN AS A POLITICAL WRITER UNDER THn 
NOM DE PLUME OF " OLIVEK OLDSCHOOL"). 



« 



VOL. I. 



PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 
1875- 

4,1 



- 3 Z 8 

' c) r .|. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, '-"y 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO., 
In the Oflice of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 



W 



.A^'^ 



- ^. 



y/ 



TO 

THE ENLIGHTENED CONDUCTORS OF THE PRESS, 

THE ARCHIMEDEAN LEVER BY WHICH, STANDING UPON THE FIRM 

BASIS OF CHRISTIANITY, EDUCATION, AND THE RIGHTS 

OF MAN, AND AIDED BY SCIENCE, THEY 

ARE MOVING THE WORLD, 

BY ONE WHO, FOR MANY YEARS, WAS PROUD TO BE NUMBERED 
AS ONE OF THEIR FRATERNITY. 



INTRODUCTION. 



It is well known to the people of the United States gener- 
ally, and to the public men of the country especially, that from 
1825 to 1853, and even eight years later, was a period of very 
exciting political conflicts, during which many great questions 
of public policy, and important measures involving the vital 
interests of the nation, came before Congress and under- 
went searching, able, and not unfrequently acrimonious dis- 
cussion in the Senate and House of Representatives. And the 
names of prominent men of that day in whose hands were the 
destinies of the nation — John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, 
Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, Martin Van 
Buren, Thomas H. Benton, Horace Binney, John Sergeant, 
John Davis, John M. Clayton, Thomas Ewing, Lewis Cass, 
James Buchanan, Silas Wright, George McDuffie, James K. 
Polk, William L. Marcy, and a hundred others — are even now 
familiar as household words to the American people. 

But precisely what those great questions and measures were, 
how they arose, what were the principles involved, and the 
parts taken by the leaders of the two parties contending against 
each other, very few now upon the stage of action have any 
very definite idea. 

During the period named, party spirit ran high, and party 
contests were carried on with great virulence. To read the full 
debates of that day, on any of the important measures which 

7 



INTRODUCTION. 



were discussed in Congress and the public press, would re- 
quire more time than any man can afford to give to the past in 
these "fast" times, when one can hardly keep up with the cur- 
rent events of the day. And yet there are many who may be 
glad to obtain some just notion of the questions which then 
agitated the community, how they were disposed of, and the 
parts acted, respectively, by the leading men whom I have 
named. Others, too, who were themselves participants in these 
scenes, will no doubt be gratified to have a brief retrospective 
view of them presented, whereby they can refresh their memo- 
ries and retrace the paths they long ago trod in the heat of 
conflict with companions long since gone to their rest. 

My purpose in preparing this work has been to give, in as 
brief a manner as possible, an account of the sayings and 
doings of that day, — of the various questions which came be- 
fore the nation, and the spirit of the debates in Congress, keep- 
ing up, at the same time, a continuity of narrative of important 
events as they occurred, — interspersing the whole with inter- 
esting incidents, anecdotes, and descriptions of the appearance 
and characteristics of the public men, with many of whom it 
was my lot to be brought in personal association. 

During the period to which I have confined myself took 
place the animated discussion on the Panama question, on 
which the opposition to Mr. J. Q. Adams's administration first 
arrayed themselves in solid phalanx; the celebrated debate 
between Mr. Webster and Colonel Hayne ; the debate on the 
tariffs of 1828 and 1832, and on the compromise tariff of 1833 ; 
on the bill to re-charter the United States Bank, and on the veto 
of that bill ; on the Force bill, and the bill to distribute the 
proceeds of the public lands; on the removal of the public 
deposits from the United States Bank, and on Mr. Clay's resolu- 
tions censuring the President for that act, followed by that on the 



INTRODUCTION. g 

President's protest against these resolutions, and on the propo- 
sition of Colonel Benton, finally carried, to " expunge" one of 
them from the journal of the Senate ; on the exposition, by a 
select committee of the House, of the astounding defalcations 
of Federal officers; on the nomination of Martin Van Buren as 
minister to England ; on the annexation of Texas, the war with 
Mexico, the acquisition and admission of California, Utah, and 
New Mexico, and, finally, the long-protracted debates on Mr. 
Clay's Compromise measures, in 1850, including the Fugitive 
Slave Law. 

It was during this period that " Nullification" first raised 
its hideous front, and was crushed out by General Jackson's 
proclamation and energetic measures ; that the presentation of 
Abolition petitions in the House produced great irritation, and 
those intensely exciting and tumultuous scenes in that body 
in which Mr. Adams was ever the champion of the right of 
petition, and Mr. Wise, Mr. Rhett, Mr. Gilmer, Waddy Thomp- 
son, and other Southern gentlemen opposed with much elo- 
quence and fiery zeal the reception of these petitions. 

"From 1829 to 1837 there was at the head of the government 
a man of indomitable will and implacable temper, who, impa- 
tient of opposition from any quarter, required implicit acquies- 
cence on the part of his friends and partisans. These personal 
qualities of the President gave character to his party and to the 
political contests of the day, which, as I have said, were carried 
on with unusual spirit and acrimony. 

From the commencement of Mr. Monroe's administration, in 
18 17, to the close of the year 1825, tranquillity pervaded the 
country like the placid calm of an "Indian summer." From 
1820 to 1832, excepting the commercial revulsion of 1825, the 
nation enjoyed, generally, a rare degree of prosperity; but from 
the commencement of the war upon the United States Bank, the 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

veto of the bill re-chartering it, the removal of the public de- 
posits to what were termed "pet banks," and other measures 
of the government more or less affecting the business relations 
and commercial operations of the country, — measures then 
styled "experiments upon the currency," — all was changed; 
and in May, 1837, these "experiments" culminated in a stop- 
page of specie payments by every bank in the United States, 
and in a financial panic which paralyzed every industrial 
interest in the nation. 

During the period covered by these recollections, namely, 
from iSi/to 1853, and indeed to a later date, I took a warm 
interest in politics and public affairs, being for a considerable 
portion of the time connected with the press, which neces- 
sarily brought me in association with many of the leading 
men of the country. From 1841 to 1846, inclusive, I was the 
Washington correspondent of the Philadelphia " United States 
Gazette," writing over the signature of " Oliver Oldschool;" 
and on the meeting of the Thirtieth Congress, December, 
1847, I was elected Sergeant-at-arms of the House, and held 
the office during that and a portion of the Thirty-first Con- 
gress, and of course had official relations with every member 
of the House of those two Congresses. 

It may be supposed I have had some experience in organ- 
izing parties and carrying on political campaigns. I have 
also held important offices in the Treasury Department, — 
Register of the Treasury and Commissioner of Customs, — and 
know from a tolerably long experience something of official 
life and of public men at Washington. 

Many partial friends, knowing the experience I have had in 
public affairs, and my associations with many of the leading 
characters of the past, have, for several years, urged me to 
write out my recollections of the men and incidents of my time; 



INTR OD UCTION. I j 

but other avocations, a disinclination to undertake so arduous 
a task, and a distrust of my ability to produce a work that 
would commend itself to the public, deterred me from comply- 
ing with their requests ; probably I should never have given 
way to them but for the fact that on my retirement from the 
office of Commissioner of Customs, in 1871, which I had held 
for ten years, I became restless for want of occupation. My 
regular habits being broken up, my mind, like the first dove 
sent out from the ark, could find no resting-place. " To rest 
is to rust," as Mr. Seward justly said of himself after leaving 
the office of Secretary of State; and I must ^therefore seek new 
employment, for employment was as necessary to my mind as 
food for my body. The kindly suggestion of a friend at that 
moment turned me to the occupation — which I have by no 
means found irksome, but quite the contrary — the fruit of 
which is this work. It has occupied me a little over two years, 
which time I have spent agreeably with the men and in the 
scenes of by-gone years; though the pleasure I have enjoyed 
has been deeply tinged with sadness by the reflection that 
almost to a man they have passed away. 

In recording my recollections of these, it will readily be seen 
that I occupy the stand-point of " an old line Whig," such as I 
was, and as such I cannot pretend to have related past events 
with exact impartiality. Time, it is true, softens the asperities, 
removes many of the prejudices, and corrects some of the errors 
inseparable from a participation in party strife, and especially 
does it assuage those rancorous feelings which violent party 
contests engender. But time does not entirely divest us of 
the feelings — prejudices, perhaps — which then governed us, nor 
wholly, if at all, change our views in regard to the characters of 
the men and the merits of the measures which divided parties. 
Of these, generally, I have spoken with freedom, and some- 



1 2 INTR OD UCTION. 

times, perhaps, with a little of the old feeling. Yet I trust I 
have done no one injustice, having intended to make no state- 
ment not warranted by undeniable facts. 

I have closed with the end of Mr. Fillmore's administra- 
tion, 1853 ; not being disposed to enter upon that tempestuous 
Kansas-Nebraska period which immediately followed and con- 
tinued during the administrations of General Pierce and Mr. 
Buchanan, finally ending in the great Rebellion and the utter 
extinction of slavery. 

N. Sargent. 

May 5, 1874. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

General Remarks. — The Rise of Parties. — Federal and Republican, or Demo- 
cratic. — Opposition to the War of 1812 fatal to the Federal Party. — Mr. 
Monroe nominated for President by the Democratic Caucus. — His Com- 
petitor Wm. H. Crawford. — Rufus King the Federal Candidate. — Monroe 
elected. — His Cabinet. — His Long Journey East and North. — The Era of 
" Good Feeling." — Creek and Seminole War. — Jackson enters Florida. — 
Executes Arbuthnot and Ambristcr. — The Subject before Congress. — Florida 
acquired from Spain. — Mr. Calhoun. — Earnestly in favor of a System of 
Internal Improvements. — The Various Improvements projected by him. — 
Duel between Commodore Barron and Commodore .Decatur. — William 
Lowndes, of South Carolina. — William Pinckney. — Candidates for Pres- 
ident, 1824. — General Jackson. — Nominated for President by the State 
Federal Convention of Pennsylvania ; also by the Democratic State Con- 
vention. — Mr. Calhoun nominated by the same Convention for Vice-Presi- 
dent. — Washington Society. — Intrigues to make General Jackson President. 
— His Coleman Letter. — His Monroe Letters. — The Presidential Vote of 
1824. — The Plot to destroy Mr. Clay. — He is charged with Bargain and 
Corruption. — Proceedings in the House thereon. — George Kremer assumes 
the Responsibility, but refuses to appear before the Committee and substan- 
tiate his Charge. — Election of Mr. Adams by the House of Representa- 
tives. — How this was effected on the First Ballot. — The Scene in the 
House. — Mr. Adams inaugurated. — Congratulated liy Mr. Monroe and 
General Jackson . . . . . . . . . . • 17 

CHAPTER II. 

Mr. Adams forms hi^Cabinet; Mr. Clay Secretary of State. — General Jackson; 
his Journey Home; charges Corruption against Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay. 
— Arrival of Lafayette, the " Nation's Guest." — His Tour through the 
United States. — Is fSted at Washington by the House of Representatives. — 
He is sent Home in the Frigate Brandywine. — The Beginning of a Storm 
in Georgia. — Completion of the Erie Canal. — Celebration of the Event. — 
De Witt Clinton. — A Political Calm. — General Jackson resigns his Seat in 
the Senate. — His Letter to the Legislature of Tennessee. — Governor Troup 

13 



14 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

and the Legislature of Georgia terribly excited; they "stand by their Anns." 
— The Opposition Party formed. — Scene between Colonel R. M. Johnson 
and Colonel Seaton. — The " Telegraph" Paper established. — Violent and 
Calumnious Character of the Opposition. — The War opened upon the Ad- 
ministration upon the Panama Question. — Mr. McDuffie's Resolutions to 
amend the Constitution. — Fierce and Vindictive Debate thereon. — He en- 
deavors to provoke a Challenge from General Vance. — Duel between Mr. 
Randolph and Mr. Clay. — John Randolph. — How Mr. Clay came to be 
elected Speaker on the First Day he entered the House as a Member. — 
Death of Adams and Jefferson. — The Cry of " Retrenchment and Reform" 
clamorously raised. — The famous East Room Letter. — " The gorgeously 
furnished East Room." — Georgia and the Creek Controversy. — Sharp 
Epistolary Skirmish between General Gaines and Governor Troup. — The 
Jackson Party gain the Ascendency in the House of Representatives. — Mr. 
McDuffie challenges Governor Metcalf, but will not fight with Rifles. — No 
Duel. — Abduction of William Morgan. — Formation of the Ami -Masonic 
Party. — General Jackson charges Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay with " Bargain 
and Corruption" at his Own Table. — Carter Beverly's Letter. — Mr. Clay's 
Denial. — Demands the Name of the Witness. — General Jackson replies, 
and gives the Name of James Buchanan as his Author. — Mr. Buchanan's 
Letter in Response. — Mr. Adams's Solemn Denial of the Truth of the 
Charge. — Agitation of the Protective Policy. — Meetings and Conventions 
North and South. — Language of the South. — General Convention at Plar- 
risburg. — Nullification first heard of. — Suggested by Colonel Hamilton, of 
South Carolina. — Plis Inflammatory Language. — Election of Governor and 
Lieutenant-Governor of New York. — Mr. Van Buren elected Governor by 
the aid of the Anti-Masons. — Presidential Election in 1828. — General Jack- 
son elected. — A Winter in Washington, 1828-9. — Mrs. Eaton. — "Bellona." 
— Tempest in a Teapot. — Mrs. General Porter. — General Jackson arrives 
at Washington. — Declines to pay the Customary Visit of Respect to the 
President. — A Great Multitude of Office-Seekers rush to Washington. — 
Editors by the Score. — Calhoun Heir-Apparent. — A Spicy Debate in the 
House. — Proclamation, Braggadocio Smythe. — Mr. Adams's Last Levee. — 
General Anxiety of Heads of Bureaus and Clerks on account of Threats of 
Sweeping Removals ........... So 

CHAPTER IIL 

General Jackson inaugurated. — His Inaugural Address. — The Multitude enter 
the White House with Him. — A Terrilile Jam. — A Disorderly Rabble fill 
the House and scramble for the Refreshments designed for the Drawing- 
Room. — They damage the Chairs and Sofas with their Hob-Nailed Shoes and 
Mud from the Canal. — General Jackson's First Cabinet. — " Retrenchment 
and Reform." — "Rewarding Friends and Punishing Enemies." — Reign of 
Terror. — Why and how Judge McLean became a Justice of the Supreme 
Court. — Excitement at the South on the Subject of the Tariff, and at the 
North on account of Morgan's Abduction. — The Case of Tobias Watkins. 



CONTENTS. I - 



TAGK 



— The Twenty-first Congress meets December 7, 1829. — General Jackson 
sounds the First Blast of War against the United States Bank in his Mes- 
sage. — The Great Deliate betwepn Mr. Webster and Colonel Hayne. — 
Colonel Ilayne. — Coolness between General Jackson and Mr. Calhoun. — 
General Jackson fires a Shot into Nullification. — His Celebrated Toast, 
" Our Federal Union: it must be preserved." — Georgia and the Cherokees. 
— Rupture between General Jackson and Mr. Calhoun. — The Breaking-up 
of General Jackson's First Cal)inct. — Mr. Van Buren appointed Minister 
to England. — A New Cabinet appointed. — Mr. Livingston. — Mr. McLane. 
— The Kitchen Cabinet. — Anti-Masonic Nomination for President, Octo- 
ber, 1831. — Mr. Wirt nominated. — National Republican Convention nomi-'"''^ 
nates Mr. Clay for President. — First Session of the Twenty-second Congress. 
— Mr. Clay in the Senate. — Brings in a Bill to reduce Revenue Duties. — 
Makes an Aljle Speech. — Colonel Hayne replies. — A Brutal Assault upon 
a Member of the House. — Hot Discussion in the House on the Occasion. — 
The President charged with inciting his Myrmidons to attack Members to 
silence Opposition. — General Houston, the Assailant, reprimanded by the 
Speaker, by Order of the House. — Attempt of Heard to assassinate Mr. 
Arnold, a Member of the House. — Young Men's National Convention at 
Washington. — Incidents. — Rejection of the Nomination of Mr. Van Buren 
as Minister to England. — In the Debate, Senator Marcy proclaims the 
Dogma that " to the Victors belong the Spoils of Office." — How the Nomi- 
nation of General Jackson for a Second Term was procured. — William D. 
Lewis's Letters. — Baltimore Jackson Convention. — Nomination of Mr. Van 
Buren as Vice-President. — Mr. William C. Braddley, of Vermont, nails the 
Charge of Bargain and Corruption to the Counter in this Convention. — Dis- 
tribution of the Proceeds of the Public Lands. — Tariff Bill of 1832. — The 
Case of the Cherokees. — General Jackson assumes the Right to support the 
Constitution as he understands it, independent of the Supreme Court. — 
Application of the Bank of the United States for a Re-Charter. — Mr. 
Adams's Report. — The New Hampshire Intrigue to obtain Control of the 
Bank. — The Veto of the Bank Bill. — Passage of the " Force" or " Bloody 
Bill."— Verplanck's Tariff Bill.— Mr. Clay's Compromise Bill.— Mr. Web- 
ster opposed to it. — It is passed. — Anecdote of Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Sim- 
mons. — Mr. Clay's Land or Distribution Bill.— An Episode. — Mr. Webster 
and Mr. Poindexter. — Presidential Election, 1S32. — General Jackson re- 
elected by an Overwhelming Majority ....... 161 

CHAPTER IV. 

The President makes a Tour to the Eastern States. — Great Attention and Re- 
spect paid him. — Black Hawk. — The Cherokee Missionaries. — An Exciting 
Scene in the Senate between Mr. Clay and Colonel Benton. — The Past 
raked u[i. — The Bank Bill vetoed. — Effect upon Parties. — Nullification in 
South Carolina. — President's Proclamation. — Governor Hayne in Reply. — 
South Carolina in an Attitude of Resistance. — Movements of the Govern- 
ment against South Carolina. — Removal of the Public Deposits from the 



1 5 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Bank of the United States. — First Session of the Twenty-third Congress. — 
The " Panic Session." — Mr. Clay's Resolutions condemning the Pcmoval 
of the Deposits. — Proceedings thereon in the Senate. — The National Re- 
publican takes the Name of the Whig Party. — Great Numbers of Memorials 
and Delegations sent to Congress and the President. — The Country greatly 
excited. — Mr. Binney. — The President's Protest against Clay's Resolutions, 
passed by the Senate, censuring him. — The Virginia Resolutions. — Great 
Commotion from a Small Cause : the Figure-Head of Jackson on " Old 
Ironsides" sawed off. — A Change in the Cabinet : Taney succeeds Duane in 
the Treasury Department. — The " Pet Banks." — A Gold Currency promised. 
— The Death of Five Distinguished Men. — The Muse of History recording 
the Doings of the House of Representatives. — Unfriendly Relations with 
France. — Attempted Assassination of the President. — Mr. Calhoun's Re- 
port on Executive Patronage, and Debate thereon. — A Pleasant Interpel- 
lation: Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Clay. — Mismanagement of the Post-Office 
Department. — William Cost Johnson backs down the Hot-headed Cham- 
pions of the Postmaster-General. — Presidential Candidates nominated. — 
The National Convention of the Jackson Party held at Baltimore ; nomi- 
nates Mr. Van Buren for President, and Colonel R. M. Johnson for Vice- 
President. — Delegates " fresh from the People," self-appointed. — Mob to 
put down Abolitionism in Boston. — Expunging Resolution. — Death of 
Chief-Justice John Marshall. — Distribution of the Surplus Revenue. — The 
Mania of Speculation. — The Moon Hoax. — First Session of the Twenty- 
fourth Congress. — Abolition Petitions. — Stirring Scenes in the House of 
Representatives. — Mr. Adams's Extraordinary Speech. — Mr. Wise's ditto, 
— Scathing Replies to Mr. Adams by Mr. Hardin and Mr. George Evans. 
— United States Bank chartered by the Pennsylvania Legislature. — Re- 
bellion and Revolution in Texas. — The Massacre of Colonels Fannin and 
Ward, and their Men, at Goliad. — The Massacre of Colonel Crockett at the 
Alamo. — The Bloody Battle of San Jacinto: Santa Anna defeated and 
taken Prisoner. — Seminole War. — The Specie Circular. — Its Effect on the 
Country. — A Protracted and very Exciting Scene in the House. — A Gloomy 
Day in the Senate.— The Expunging Resolution passed. — Chancellor Kent's 
Letter to Mr. Clay. — The Expungers have a Royal Feast at the White 
House. — General Jackson's Administration closes, and he returns to the 
Hermitage. — A Sketch of him. — His Death 244 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



CHAPTER L 

General Remarks. — The Rise of Parties. — Federnl and Repulilican, or Democratic. 
— Opposition to the War of 1S12 fatal to the Federal Party. — Mr. Monroe nomi- 
nated for President by the Democratic Caucus. — His Competitor Wm. H. Craw- 
ford. — Rufus King the Federal Candidate. — Monroe elected. — His Cabinet. — 
His Long Journey East and North. — The Era of " Good Feeling." — Creek and 
Seminole War. — Jackson enters Florida. — Executes Arbuthnot and Ambrister. 
— The Subject before Congress. — Florida acquired from Spain. — Duel between 
Commodore Barron and Commodore Decatur. — William Lowndes, of South 
Carolina. — William Pinckney. — Candidates for President, 1S24. — General Jack- 
son. — Nominated for President by the State Federal Convention of Pennsyl- 
vania ; also by the Democratic State Convention. — Mr. Calhoun nominated by 
the same Convention for Vice-President. — Washington Society. — Intrigues to 
make General Jackson President. — His Coleman Letter. — His Monroe Letters. 
— The Presidential Vote of 1824. — The Plot to destroy Mr. Clay. — He is 
charged with Bargain and Corruption. — Proceedings in the House thereon. — 
George Kremer assumes the Responsibility, but refuses to appear before the 
Committee and substantiate his Charge. — Election of Mr. Adams by the House 
of Representatives. — How this was effected on the First Ballot. — The Scene 
in the House. — Mr. Adams inaugurated. — Congratulated by Mr. Monroe and 
General Jackson. 

Political parties are the natural product of free government. 
Wherever there is freedom of speech and freedom of the press, 
discussions and conflicts will arise ; and where the people rule 
or elect their rulers, there will be clashing of opinions in regard 
to public affairs, the fitness of candidates for office, and a rivalry 
growing out of personal interests. Thus parties spring up and 
someti;iies run to such extremes and become so infuriated as to 
set all law and authoritv at defiance, endincr in blood\% savage, 
and remorseless massacres. 

Our own country has never been entirely free from parties : 

2 17 



1 8 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

before the Revolution they existed in the different colonies, 
based on local questions and interests, and in some of them 
were characterized by great heat and asperity. But the great 
controversy between the colonies and the mother country, 
which culminated in our independence, absorbed and overrode 
all minor and local questions, dividing the people into new 
parties, denominated Whig and Tory. 

The formation of the Constitution gave rise to conflicts of 
opinions as to the powers that should be conferred on the 
national government or reserved by the several States ; and 
these adverse opinions soon originated new parties, which 
divided the nation for many years after. These were at first 
designated Federal and anti- Federal, afterwards Federal and Re- 
publican, or Democratic. Though not regularly organized during 
General Washington's administration, they were, nevertheless, 
exceedingly hostile to and abusive of each other. The vituper- 
ation poured out upon General Washington, who was known to 
be a indcralist, can scarcely be conceived by those in whose 
minds he is the canonized patriot and father of his country. 
The political history of that period is painfully interesting. 

It was not until the Presidential contest between John Adams 
and Thomas Jefferson, in 1800, that the two parties came into 
the field arrayed against each other; but from that time down to 
18 1 7, when Mr. Monroe was elected President, party animosity 
raged with great fury, — far beyond anything since witnessed, 
• except, perhaps, during the two terms of General Jackson's 
administration. 

Opposition to the War of 1812 proved fatal to the Federal 
party, which ceased to exist as a national party with the close 
of Mr. Madison's administration. Not only did the odium of 
opposing the war tend to annihilate that party, but the questions 
upon which the two parties differed were, in a great measure, 
settled or disposed of by the war; others, relating to the general 
interests of the country, such as a tariff, internal improvements, 
the chartering of a national bank, erecting fortifications, etc., 
taking their place, and finding advocates and opponents in both 
the old parties. 

Candidates for President and Vice-President were then se- 



MONROE'S CABINET. 



19 



lected by the respective parties by what was termed a Con- 
gressional caucus. Mr. Monroe was placed in nomination for 
President by a caucus of the Republican members of Congress, 
Daniel D. Tompkins, of New York, being nominated by the 
same caucus for Vice-President. Mr. Crawford, of Georgia, 
was Mr. Monroe's competitor, and fell but few votes behind him 
in the caucus. 

Rufus King was the candidate of the Federal party, or what 
there was left of it, against Mr. Monroe. The latter received 
one hundred and eighty-three electoral votes, the former tliirty- 
four. 

No President ever encountered less opposition during his 
four or eight years' service than Mr. Monroe. Parties and the 
country seemed to be tired of contention, and desirous to enjoy 
repose. A most able cabinet was selected, consisting of Mr. 
J. Q. Adams as Secretary of State; William H. Crawford, Sec- 
retary of the Treasur}-; John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War; 
Smith Thompson, Secretary of the Navy; and William Wirt, 
Attorney- General. For long and eminent public services, great 
,and tried abilities, and patriotic devotion to the free institutions 
of the country, this cabinet might proudly challenge a compari- 
son with any one whose members have since filled their places. 

Before the cabinet was formed. General Jackson addressed a 
letter to Mr. Monroe, which was brought out and made public 
during the Presidential contest in 1824, when Jackson himself 
was a candidate, urging him in selecting his cabinet to disregard 
party. " In every instance," General Jackson says, " party and 
party feelings should be avoided. Now is the time to exter- 
minate that monster called party spirit. By selecting characters 
most conspicuous for probity, virtue, capacity, and firmness, 
without regard to party, you will go far to, if not entirely, eradi- 
cate those feelings which, on former occasions, threw so many 
obstacles in the way of government, and perhaps have the pleas- 
ure and honor of uniting a people heretofore politically divided. 
The chief magistrate of a great and powerful nation should 
never indulge in party feelings." . . . Patriotic sentiments, truly. 
But who would have then supposed that entering upon the 
duties of President twelve years later, he would cast these senti- 



20 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

ments to the winds, and adopt the most proscriptive, thoroughly 
party system of making removals and appointments ever known 
in the government ? 

Soon after Mr. Monroe entered upon the duties of his high 
office he started on a tour to the East, North, and West, ac- 
companied only by his private secretary, Mr. Mason, and Gen- 
eral Swift, Chief of the Corps of Engineers ; the latter for the 
purpose of making observations for works of defense along the 
seaboard. 

In all the cities, towns, and villages through which the 
President passed he was received with great demonstrations of 
respect, the people striving to do him all the honor due to the 
chief magistrate of the nation, — all uniting in these demonstra- 
tions without distinction of party. In Boston, especially, the 
head-quarters of Federalism, the Federalists vied with their 
political opponents in their demonstrations and in the honors 
shown him. Addresses poured in upon him, not only from the 
citizens, corporations, etc., of the cities and towns through 
which he passed and sojourned, but from distant cities, towns, 
and counties. Such was the exuberance of good feeling mani- 
fested towards the President by all classes of the people on and 
near the route he traveled, — in every part of New England and 
New York, indeed, — that it was termed " the era of good feel- 
ing," and this was applied to the whole eight years of his 
administration. His journey seemed to have annihilated or 
" exterminated that monster called party spirit." 

The President proceeded as far east as Portland, Me., which 
he reached on the 15th of July, six weeks after leaving Wash- 
ington! Thence he went to Burlington, Vt., and from thence 
to Plattsburg. From Plattsburg to Sackett's Harbor his route 
was through a wilderness called the Chateaugay Woods. From 
Sackett's Harbor the President proceeded by the lake to the 
mouth of the Niagara River, visited the Falls and some of the 
principal scenes of military operations on that frontier during 
the war, went to Buffalo, from thence to Detroit, thence through 
Ohio to Pittsburg, where he arrived on the 5th of September, 
and at Washington on the i8th, having been absent from the 
seat of government three and a half months, performing a tour 



CREEK AND SEMINOLE WAR. 2 1 

which could now be traveled in, possibly, a little more than a 
week, including the necessary stoppages to hear and answer 
congratulatory addresses. The appearance of the President of 
the United States among the people far distant from the seat 
of government was a novel, and therefore great, occasion, and 
made a great sensation. Nobody had ever seen a President, 
and all who could must see him. The road was lined with 
people as he passed, and he found every village and hamlet in 
his way, or where he rested overnight, crowded with the eager 
inhabitants of the surrounding country, who had left the plow 
in the furrow, the cream in the churn, and the clothes in the 
tub, to see what had never before been seen there, the President 
of the United States. 

CREEK AND SEMINOLE WAR. 

Soon after Mr. Monroe became President, hostilities broke 
out with the Creek and Seminole Indians, occupying a part of 
Georgia and Florida. As commander of the Southern military 
district, General Jackson was ordered to take the field against 
the hostile red-skins ; and as many of them took refuge in 
Florida, where they were believed to be countenanced, if not 
aided, by the Spaniards, the general deemed it his duty to 
enter Florida with his army and take possession of St. Mark's 
and Pensacola. He also seized, and had tried by court-martial, 
two Englishmen, Arbuthnot and Ambrister, who were charged 
with aiding and inciting the Indians in their depredations upon 
our people. They were both found guilty and hung. 

These proceedings caused the President great anxiety. They 
were considered in cabinet council, and condemned and dis- 
avowed by every member except Mr. Adams. A paper was 
drawn up and made public, declaring that in entering Florida and 
taking possession of St. Mark's and Pensacola, General Jackson 
had acted without authority and upon his own responsibility ; 
and it was decided that the places taken should be immediately 
evacuated. As the general claimed to have authority from the 
Secretary of War for what he had done, this condemnation of 
his course, mild as it was, roused his fiery temper, which found 
expression in some of his peculiarly emphatic expletives. 



22 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

The arrest, trial, condemnation, and execution of the two 
Enghshmen in a foreign country was alleged to be a palpable 
and gross violation of international law, and the military occu- 
pation of the Floridas an act of war upon Spain, involving our 
government in serious difficulties with a friendly nation. 

Negotiations had been for some time pending between Spain 
and the United States for the cession of Florida to the latter, 
but were interrupted by the proceedings of General Jackson. 
The Spanish government and minister were in a towering rage ; 
but Mr. Adams, who had in cabinet council refused to join in 
censuring General Jackson, or to draw up the letter the council 
determined should be transmitted to him, prepared a masterly 
defense of the general, in which his proceedings were unequivo- 
cally justified; and ere long the negotiations for the acquisition 
of Florida were resumed, and in the end brought to a favorable 
result, — a treaty of cession. 

Meantime, however, the subject of the invasion of Florida 
was brought before Congress by Mr. Cobb, the personal friend 
of Mr. Crawford, who introduced a resolution in the House 
of Representatives condemning General Jackson's proceedings, 
upon which arose a very acrimonious, irritating, and prolonged 
debate. It was referred to the committee on military affairs, — 
seven members, — a majority of whom made a report severely 
censuring General Jackson, while the minority reported that, 
instead of condemnation. General Jackson deserved the thanks 
of the country. Upon a final vote the general's conduct was 
approved, — lOO to 70. 

In the Senate the papers relating to the Seminole war, which 
were communicated by the President to both houses of Con- 
gress, were referred to a committee of five, — Messrs. Burrill, 
Lacock, Eppes, King, of New York, and Eaton, of Tennessee. 
Of these, the first three made a report severely condemning 
General Jackson's proceedings, while the minority justified 
them. No vote was taken upon the report in the Senate. 

The result was, on the whole, pretty nearly a drawn game 
between General Jackson and those who condemned him. But 
the debates and proceedings in Congress had caused great irri- 
tation and animosity among members (including Senators) and 



THE FLORIDA TREATY. 



23 



in the city of Washington during the whole session; General 
Jackson and his hot-headed young friends indulging very 
freely in denunciatory language towards those opposed to him ; 
and the latter, perhaps, giving no less license to their con- 
demnation of what they termed his lawless proceedings in 
Florida. 

General Jackson being delayed at Winchester, Va., on his 
way to Washington, and being feted by the prominent citizens, 
gave as a toast, "John C. Calhoun, — an honest man is the 
noblest work of God." Eleven years after, he discovered that 
Mr. Calhoun was the member of Mr. Monroe's cabinet who 
proposed to censure him for his invasion of Florida, as was 
now attempted by a portion of Congress. 

Some very important public events — one of which, at least, 
caused great excitement and sectional irritation — illustrated Mr. 
Monroe's administration ; but, as the interest they then excited 
has long since passed away, I shall content myself with a mere 
mention of them. The admission of Missouri as a State, with 
what is known as the " Missouri Compromise," was the measure 
or question upon which the North and the South were then 
arrayed against each other as distinct sections, slavery being 
the bone of contention. The next very important public 
measure was the acquisition of the Floridas by a treaty with 
Spain, signed the 22Ti February, 18 19. The treaty was promptly 
ratified by the Senate ; but the King of Spain haggled, procras- 
tinated, and endeavored to get us to make new stipulations, 
trifling with us, until the President deemed it necessary to pre- 
sent the subject to Congress, when an act was passed, just at 
the heel of the session, authorizing him to take possession of 
the ceded provinces and establish a temporary government 
over them. These measures brought the king to his senses 
and to terms forthwith. 

By " the Florida Treaty," so called, the United States relin- 
quished their claim to that portion of Texas lying east of the 
Nueces, which Mr. Adams, Mr. Clay, and many other of our 
statesmen contended belonged to us, as being a part of Louisi- 
ana, purchased by Mr. Jefferson. Both the gentlemen named 
were very unwilling to surrender this portion of Texas ; but 



24 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



Mr. Monroe and his cabinet, all except Mr. Adams, so deter- 
mined. Mr. Clay was strongly opposed to this surrender, and 
became for a time a quasi opponent of the administration. 

MILITARY POSTS ESTABLISHED IN THE FAR WEST. THE YELLOW- 
STONE EXPEDITION. 

To overawe and keep peace with the Indians of the Plains 
and the Rocky Mountains, encourage the extension of white 
settlements, command the fur trade of the Rocky Mountains, 
which was exceedingly profitable, and prevent the Hudson 
Bay Company from establishing trading-posts and extending 
their trade towards the sources of the Missouri, it was deemed 
proper to establish military posts farther into the Indian country 
than had heretofore been done. A military post was therefore 
established on the Mississippi River a little below the Falls of 
St. Anthony, which was known as Fort Snelling ; another at 
the Mandan villages on the Missouri ; and a third at the mouth 
of the Yellowstone River, eighteen hundred miles above St. 
Louis. In establishing these military posts, especially the two 
last, Mr. Calhoun, Secretary of War, thought it would be good 
policy to make a deep and lasting impression upon the wild 
tribes of Indians, who knew nothing of the power of the United 
States. To do this, a steamboat was built in the form of a 
great water-snake, which, dashing forward against the strong 
current of the river, should emit volumes of smoke through 
the mouth of what appeared to be some huge monster. To 
heighten the impression of awe and wonder which this apparent 
monster must create, heavy guns were occasionally fired, whose 
reverberations along the river-banks and through the wilderness 
might be taken by the wandering savages for the bellowing of 
this strange animal. 

The boat proceeded the first season to Council Bluffs, twelve 
hundred miles above St. Louis, where the expedition wintered, 
1819-20, preparing to proceed to the Yellowstone the next 
season ; but for some reason or other the expedition was aban- 
doned. The experiment of frightening the Indians did not 
prove very successful, for they soon discovered that this huge- 
looking creature was only the work of the white man, and not 



MR. CALHOUN. 



25 



the creation of the Great Spirit. These advanced military 
posts, however, afforded protection to our fur-traders, hunters, 
and trappers, and checked the further encroachments of the 
Hudson Bay Company. 

MR. CALHOUN. 

The Secretary of War was at this time a young, enterprising, 
and far-seeing statesman, animated by a patriotic desire to pro- 
mote the greatness and prosperity of the nation. His views 
were then hmited by no State hnes, but expanded to the utter- 
most bounds of the United States. 

The question in regard to internal improvements by national 
means had been considered by Congress and by the Executive, 
the former favoring such improvements, the latter questioning 
the power of the general government to make them. The 
House of Representatives having passed a resolution at the 
first session of the Fifteenth Congress, directing the Secretary 
of War to report "a plan for the application of such means as 
are within the power of Congress, for the purpose of opening 
and constructing such roads and canals as may deserve and 
require the aid of government, with a view to military opera- 
tions in the time of war, the transportation of munitions of 
war, and also a statement of the works of that nature which 
have been commenced," the Secretary, Mr. Calhoun, at the 
second session of that Congress, presented an elaborate report 
to the House, stating that, in his opinion, "a judicious system 
of roads and canals, constructed for the convenience of com- 
merce and the transportation of the mail only, without refer- 
ence to military operations, is itself among the most efficient 
means of defense, as the same roads and canals, with few 
exceptions, would be required for the operations of war. Such 
a system, by consolidating the Union, increasing its wealth and 
fiscal capacity, adds greatly to the resources of war." 

"There is no country," says the Secretary, "to which a good 
system of roads and canals is more indispensable than the 
United States. Great as is the military capacity of the country 
compared with the number of people, yet, when considered in 
relation to its vast extent, it must be obvious that it is difficult 



26 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

for the government to afford adequate protection to every part. 
This difficulty is in a great measure overcome by a good system 
of military roads and canals." 

Mr. Calhoun was at this time enthusiastically in favor of 
" connecting the various portions of the country by A judicious 
SYSTEM OF INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS." I first became acquainted 
with him in June, 1824. I then visited Washington on business, 
bearing a letter of introduction to him from an old personal 
friend of his, and a former neighbor in South Carolina. On 
presenting the letter to him at the War Department I was very 
cordially received. He made many inquiries in regard to old 
friends and neighbors who had emigrated to Alabama, and 
many also in regard to that new but rapidly-settling State. 
He soon spoke of a national road he had projected, or had 
in contemplation, from Washington to New Orleans, via 
Abingdon, Va., Knoxville, Tenn., thence through Alabama, 
passing near Cahawba, and so on to New Orleans. But this 
was only one of many great national improvements he had 
projected and spoke of accomplishing in the most confident 
and earnest manner. He soon had his table and floor covered 
with maps of these various improvements, by which he expected 
to make Washington City the great commercial emporium of 
the nation, as well as its political capital. 

Among the projected improvements to be accomplished by 
national means, chiefly or in part, I recollect, were the follow- 
ing: the opening of an inland sloop navigation from New 
York to Savannah by a canal from New York to Philadelphia, 
a canal uniting the Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers, a canal 
from Chesapeake Bay to the Potomac at Washington, the 
Dismal Swamp Canal uniting Chesapeake Bay with Albemarle 
Sound, and so on to Savannah ; the Chesapeake and Ohio 
Canal, as a channel of commerce for the great West ; many 
other carjals, the routes of which I cannot now recollect ; and, 
finally, a national road from Washington to Buffalo. 

Mr. Calhoun spoke of his projected improvements and the 
great benefits that the country would derive from them with a 
warmth, earnestness, and enthusiasm which indicated that his 
whole soul was in " the system" he had projected. That he 



CALHOUN AND INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 27 

continued to hold the views expressed in his report to the 
House as late as 1825 appears from the following extract from 
a speech delivered by him to his constituents at a public dinner 
given him by his neighbors at Abbeville, S.C., on the — day 
of June, 1825, for which see " Niles's Register," /^r^w//. Ad- 
dressing them, he said, — 

. . . "Not doubting the necessity of an enlightened system 
of measures for the security of the country and the advance- 
ment of its true interests, nor your disposition to make the 
necessary sacrifices to sustain it, I gave my zealous efforts in 
favor of all such measures : the gradual increase of the navy, 
a moderate military establishment, properly organi/xd and in- 
structed, a system of fortifications for the defense of the coast, 
the restoration of specie currency, a due protection of manu- 
factures OF the country, which had taken root during the 
period of war and restrictions,* and, finally, a system of con- 
necting the various portions of the country by A judicious 
system of internal improvements. 

..." You nobly sustained all these measures. Soon after 
the adoption by Congress of this system of measures, which 
grew out of the experience of the late war, I was transferred to 
preside over the Department of War. ... In this new position 
my principles of action remained unchanged." 

In this speech Mr. Calhoun said, " No man would reprobate 
more pointedly than myself any concerted union between States 
for interested or sectional objects. Such concert would be 
against the spirit of our Constitution, which was intended to 
bind all the States in one common bond of union and friend- 
ship." 

This reads strangely in the light of subsequent events, — 
events, too, which took place but a few years after these patri- 
otic words were uttered. 

At a dinner given to him at Pendleton, his own home, during 
this visit, one of the toasts was the following, embodying, in a 
few words, his views in regard to internal improvements at that 
time, and fully in accord with his speech at Abbeville on that 
subject: 

* Embargoes, non-intercourse, etc. 



28 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

''Internal iniprovcmcnts: Guided by the wisdom and energy 
of its able advocates, it cannot fail to strengthen and perpetuate 
our bond of union." 

Strange that in one or two years from this time internal im- 
provements were pronounced nnconstitntional by Mr. Calhoun 
and all his followers, and not a man in South Carolina could 
be found who had the courage to reiterate the above sentiment ! 

Mr. Calhoun was a graduate of Yale College, New Haven, 
and while there developed the peculiar characteristics which so 
distinguished him in after-life. Dr. Dwight, president of the 
college at that time, predicted that, if his life should be spared, 
he would run a splendid public career, as he saw that his mind 
was bent on a political life and the attainment of political 
honors ; that his ambition was boundless, and his capacity 
equal to any position under the government. 

From the time he left college he took a warm interest in 
public affairs, though, as has been, or will be, shown, his prin- 
ciples were not very firmly fixed; at least they were easily 
abandoned for others. 

FATAL DUEL BETWEEN COMMODORE BARRON AND COMMODORE 

DECATUR. 

A tragic event occurred at Washington, in March, 1820, 
which produced intense excitement not only there but in every 
part of the country: namely, a duel between Commodore 
Barron and Commodore Decatur, in which the latter was killed 
and the former received a wound which, for some time, was 
expected to prove mortal. 

Commodore Decatur stood at the head of his profession; had 
signalized himself by daring feats of bravery in the Tunisian 
war, and by eminent services in the late war with England. He 
was one of that gallant band of officers whose skill, bravery, 
and daring had raised the character of our navy and made it 
the pride of the nation. It is hardly necessary to say that he 
was a great favorite at the capital, and one of the ornaments 
of its social circles. 

That he had been imperious and overbearing towards Com- 
modore Barron, and had opposed his being placed in command 



DUEL BETWEEN BARRON AND DECATUR. 29 

of the Columbus, seventy-four, there was no doubt. His fccHng 
towards him may be seen at the close of his last letter of the 
correspondence which preceded the duel : " your jeopardizing 
your life depends on yourself, and not on me, and is done with 
a view of fighting your character up; I shall pay no further 
attention to any communication you may make to me other 
than a direct call to the field." This was supercilious, and left 
Commodore Barron no other course than to " call him to the 
field." 

A challenge followed, and the duel took place at Bladensburg, 
March 22, 1820. Captain Jesse D. Elliott was the second of 
Barron, and Commodore Bainbridge of Decatur; the distance 
but eight paces, making it morally certain that one or both 
must fall ; and that Barron expected both would may be in- 
ferred from what he said to Decatur while the seconds were 
loading the pistols : " I hope, Decatur, that when we meet in 
another world we shall be better friends than we have been in 
this." To which Decatur replied, " I have never been your 
enemy, sir." 

The word being given, both fired so near together that there 
was but one report, and both fell, each wounded in the hip, and 
believed to be mortally. Both were placed in carriages and 
conveyed as rapidly as possible to their respcQtive homes, — De- 
catur to the house he built and then occupied, on the corner of 
H and Sixteenth Streets, diagonally opposite W. W. Corcoran's, 
still known as the Decatur House. He lived but a few hours. 
Barron, quite unexpectedly, recovered. 

It may be satisfactory to the reader, too young to be familiar 
with the events of that day, to know the causes which led to 
this famous duel. They were of a date as early as 1806, and 
grew out of the more famous affair of the Chesapeake and 
Leopard. The latter, a British ship of war, far superior to the 
Chesapeake and well prepared for action, threatening an attack 
on the former, on account of her having, as was alleged, British 
seamen on board, Commodore Barron, being in command of 
the Chesapeake, and wholly unprepared for action, declined it, 
and suffered the men thus claimed to be taken on board the 
Leopard. This was a circumstance mortifying to the whole 



30 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

nation, roused a bitter feeling towards England, and called 
forth loud condemnation of Commodore Barron. 

A court of inquiry was held, which condemned the commo- 
dore. A court-martial was then ordered, of which Commodore 
Decatur, who had strongly condemned the conduct of Barron, 
was a member. This court decided that Commodore Barron 
was guilty, not of cowardice or want of firmness, but of neglect 
of duty and unofficer-like conduct in not clearing his ship for 
action on the probability of an engagement, and sentenced him 
to be suspended from all command in the navy and from all 
pay and emoluments for the term of five years from the 8th of 
February, 1808; which sentence was approved by the Presi- 
dent. This excluded him from the navy during the war with 
England. The severity of this sentence he attributed to De- 
catur, whose hostility to him was undisguised. Upon the ex- 
piration of his suspension he claimed his rank and employment, 
and the command of the Columbus, seventy-four, in which, as 
before stated, he was opposed by Decatur. 

I became acquainted with Commodore Barron in 1837, when 
he resided in Philadelphia, and a more estimable, kind-hearted, 
Christian gentleman I have seldom met, esteemed and beloved 
by all who knew him. 

It was said that a reconciliation took place while both lay on 
the field supposed to be mortally wounded. Said Decatur, 
" Why didn't you come home, Barron [he was in P^rance], and 
help us in the war?" " Because," answered Barron, " I had no 
money, and could not." " If you had only let me know your 
situation, I would have sent you the money." 

There was a high-toned generosity about Decatur, while 
Barron was destitute of all malice. Could these gallant officers 
have come together in a friendly spirit and given and taken 
explanations from each other, it is not at all probable that this 
unfortunate and fatal duel would ever have taken place. 

Outrages upon our merchantmen similar to that perpetrated 
by the Leopard on the Chesapeake, namely, impressing our 
seamen by British cruisers, were among the causes which finally 
led to the War of 18 12, during which our gallant little navy 
performed marvelous feats of daring bravery and successful 



WILLIAM LOWNDES, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 



31 



manoeuvring, and fought itself into public favor, which it has 
retained to the present day. Humbling indeed was it to 
British pride to see ship after §hip surrender, after a short but 
murderous action, to the heretofore despised Yankees ; but it 
was a humiliation they were compelled to undergo. 

The tragic death of Decatur, who was universally admired, 
and of whom the nation as well as the city was justly proud, 
produced a most profound sensation, and spread gloom like a 
pall over the metropolis. A levee at the Presidential mansion 
and other social parties were postponed, ev^erybody feeling the 
sadness of the occasion. The funeral was attended by the 
President and his cabinet, the judges of the Supreme Court, 
Senators and members of the House of Representatives, and an 
immense concourse of people. The occasion was long vividly 
remembered, and there are a few, a very few, now living who 
still remember it. 

Subsequently, on the occasion of the death of Mr. Cilley, in 
the duel with Graves, the judges declined attending the funeral, 
wishing thereby to show their repugnance to duels. 

WILLIAM LOWNDES, OF SOUTH CAROLIN.\. 

Fame reports Mr. Lowndes, of South Carolina, to hav^e been 
one of the wisest, most prudent and judicious legislators who 
had occupied a seat in Congress. Such was the testimony 
borne of him by Mr. Clay, who served many years in Congress 
with him; and thus spoke of him Mr. Webster and other con- 
temporaries. Colonel Benton speaks of him as " one of those 
members, rare in all assemblies, who, when he spoke, had a 
cluster around him, not of friends, but of the House, — members 
quitting their distant seats and gathering up close about him, 
and showing by their attention that one would feel it a personal 
loss to have missed a word he said. It was the attention of 
affectionate confidence. He imparted to others the harmony of 
his own feelings, and was the moderator as well as the leader 
of the House, and was followed by its sentiment in all cases in 
which inexorable party feeling or some powerful interest did 
not rule the action of the members, and even then he was 
courteously and deferentially treated." This accords with the 



32 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

testimony of others. Mr. Lowndes was always spoken of with 
profound respect and affectionate regard by those members 
whom I knew and who had served in Congress with him. 

He was a very Saul in stature ; of a plain, winning countenance, 
bland manners, and equable temper, of which he never lost 
control. He had, consequently, a strong hold of the members 
of his own party, — the Republican, — and exercised great in- 
fluence also with his political opponents on all questions and 
measures which did not involve party politics. He was the 
leading advocate of the Tariff bill of i8i6, which adopted the 
principle of protection to American manufactures, and was ably 
sustained by his colleague, Mr. Calhoun, and by Mr. Clay. 

Such was the estimate of him by his friends that his elevation 
to the Presidency was looked for at no distant day.* But, his 
health failing, he resigned his seat in Congress in 1821, and, 
taking a voyage to Europe by the advice of his physician, in 
1822, he died at sea. 

" Only the memory of the just 
Smells sweet and blossoms in the dust." 

It may not be out of place to indulge a little speculation here 
as to what would or would not have occurred in South Caro- 
hna from 1821 to 1831 and subsequent years, had Mr. Lowndes 
lived and preserved his health. He was a very firm, consistent, 
conservative statesman, always acting on views and opinions 
well matured. His influence in South Carolina was supreme, 
and elsewhere at the South very great. He was the father of 
the Protective bill of 18 16, and favored internal improvements 
by national means ; and it was not in his nature to be changing 
and whiffling about like a weathercock. Had he been living, 
therefore, in 1825, it is not likely that Mr. Calhoun, who stood 
under his shadow, would have faced to the right-about, as he 
did, on the questions of protection and internal improvements, 
and denounced those measures as 7mco)istitiitio}ial\w\\\ch. he had 
but a few months before advocated with the zeal of an enthu- 

* Mr. Lowndes was the first to remark that the Presidency was an office too 
high to be either sought or declined. General Jackson reiterated the sentiment to 
some effect, and has been considered its author. 



WILLTA.^f riXCKNEY. y^ 

siast, and the earnestness of one thoroughly convinced that he 
was right. 

We shall generally, if not at all times, find the springs of 
history in the dark recesses of the human heart. Men control 
nations, and are themselves controlled by their ambitions, rival- 
ries, jealousies, revenges, hopes, and fears. Few public men 
are governed by the sole desire to promote the true interest 
of the country; and many deceive themselves by supposing that 
they are thus governed, when, in truth, self-interest sways the 
needle from the true pole. How Mr. Calhoun could have 
honestly entertained such diametrically opposite opinions on 
the great questions mentioned, in 1824 and 1826, it would be 
idle to undertake to explain upon the supposition that his 
motives in changing were entirely disinterested and had no 
reference to his future career. It is quite certain, I think, that, 
had Mr. Lowndes lived, we should never have heard of nullifi- 
cation or secession, and possibly History would have been 
spared the painful task of writing the dark pages of a four 
years' bloody rebellion. 

WILLI. '\M J'INCKNEV. 

The most eloquent and distinguished man of his day in the 
United States, if we may credit his contemporaries, was Mr. 
Pinckney, of Maryland. His fame has descended to us in its 
fullness of glory as an orator, statesman, and advocate. 

He was, at the time of his sudden and premature death, a 
member of the United States Senate, and admitted to be there 
unrivaled in the power and beauty of his forensic efforts. ]Uit 
he .spoke rarely in that body, only on some important occasion 
or question, and then only after the most laborious and thorough 
preparation, not merely in regard to the arguments and illus- 
trations, but in the general construction of his speech, and 
especially in the preparation of those passages, including the 
peroration, which were intended to electrifs' his audience. 

That Mr. Pinckney ranked as first at the bar of the Supreme 
Court, composed of such distinguished lawyers as Da\id B. 
Ogden, John Wells, Josiah Ogden Hoffman, and Thomas 
Addis Emmet, of New York, Daniel Webster, of Massachu- 

3 



34 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



setts, Chapman Johnson, of Virginia, Wilh'am Wirt and General 
Walter Jones, of Washington, and others of similar calibre, is 
sufficient evidence of his great ability as a jurist and his ex- 
traordinary powers as a speaker. His arguments before that 
tribunal where sat a Story, a Johnson, a Livingston, and a 
Washington, presided over by a Marshall, were learned, logical, 
compact, and strong ; but, not content with strength and so- 
lidity, he took infinite pains to make them attractive and more 
effective by the most elaborate ornamentation. He well knew 
the effect of glowing passages of eloquence, even in a solid 
legal argument, — diamonds set in gold, — upon a promiscuous, 
or even a select, intelligent, and refined audience. Nor did he 
undervalue those echoes of admiration which his electric ora- 
tory sometimes, indeed, almost invariably, called forth : they 
were delicious music to his ear. 

It is related of Mr. Pinckney that he was very desirous that 
the splendid passages in his speeches, which he took so much 
pains to prepare, should be thought to be the impromptu in- 
spirations of his genius, and not the studied productions of mid- 
night toil ; and that to give the appearance of this, he would 
sometimes resort to the nise, on the morning of the day he 
was to speak in the Senate or Supreme Court, of mounting a 
horse, riding some miles into the country, returning and enter- 
ing the Senate or court, whip in hand, booted and spurred, 
with the appearance of haste, just at the momefit he was ex- 
pected to rise and speak, as if he had forgotten that he was to 
occupy the floor and had come wholly unprepared, and at once 
go on with his splendid display of oratorical power fragrant 
with the oil of the midnight lamp. 

On the great Missouri question, Mr. Pinckney took the lead 
in the Senate in favor of the Compromise, opposed to Rufus 
King, who led the opposition to the admission of Missouri as a 
slave State. His speech on that occasion was one of the greatest 
efforts of his legislative life; but another, which he made many 
years before, denouncing slavery and slave-holders for main- 
taining it, was the best answer to it. 

Mr. Pinckney had a very extensive and lucrative business 
before the .Supreme Court, — greater than that of any other 



GENERAL JACK'S ON. ^c 

member of that bar, — which demanded so much of his time 
and labor that he had Httle to spare for the Senate. And this 
was somewhat singular, as lie had spent many years, from 
1796 to 181 1, as minister, at different times, to England, and 
in 18 1 8 to Russia and Naples. 

His biographer and nephew speaks of the "punctilious and 
studious attention to dress, which he acquired in foreign courts, 
and which he retained to the close of his life." He was not 
less distinguished for his exquisite taste in dress, the faultless cut 
of his garments, the delicate tint of his gloves, the gossamer 
fineness of his ruffles and pocket-handkerchiefs, — in short, for 
the high fashion and fine material of his costume, — than he was 
as an eminent lawyer, able statesman, and refined gentleman. 

His death was startlingly sudden ; but, in the words of his 
biographer, " he fell in his might, before the tribunal he de- 
lighted to address, and on the arena he most loved to tread." 

CANDIDATES FOR THE PRESIDENCY. 

The caucus system of nominating candidates for the Presi- 
dency having been denounced and abandoned, it was left to the 
friends of any aspirant to present his name or announce him 
as a candidate for that high office ; and this was done, except 
that Mr. Crawford had received the nomination by a quasi 
caucus. Mr. Adams, Mr. Clay, General Jackson, and Mr. 
Calhoun were severally announced as such. With the excep- 
tion of General Jackson, each was announced without any sort 
of clap-trap or attempt to forestall public opinion. General 
Jackson was first nominated by the Legislature of Tennessee; 
then by public meetings of the citizens of Carlisle and of Dau- 
phin County, Pa. ; and again by the citizens of Blount County, 
Tenn. 

GENERAL JACKSON. 

General Jackson was a man of a noble and commanding 
presence, — tall, straight, with a military air and mien that made 
a strong and favorable impression upon every one at first sight. 
In any promiscuous assembly of a thousand men he would 
have been pointed out above all others as the man " born to 
command," and who would, in any dangerous emergency, be 



36 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



at once placed in command. Ordinarily, he had the peculiar, 
rough, independent, free-and-easy ways of the backwoodsman; 
but at the same time he had, whenever the occasion required, 
and especially when in the society of ladies, very urbane and 
graceful manners. » 

But, though extremely affable when it was his humor, he 
was, when he chose to be, haughty and overbearing, impatient 
of restraint and irascible in temper; opposition in any shape 
aroused his anger, which was fierce and unrelenting. He who 
crossed his path, thwarted his purposes, or held opinions in 
opposition to his own, though honest and sincere in those 
opinions, and opposing him under a high sense of duty and 
not from personal feelings, was looked upon as an enemy, 
however warm had been his previous friendship. He never 
forgave : implicit and unreasoning acquiescence in his opinions 
and purposes was the price of his friendship, and to such 
friends he knit himself with hooks of steel ; there was no 
service in his power he would not render them. Hence the 
strong hold he had of his friends, and the zeal with which they 
served him. 

His affectionate regard and devotedness to his wife, and his 
ready submission to her soothing voice, even when in his most 
excited and revengeful moods, were beautiful and commendable 
traits in his character. And it is strong proof of her excellent 
judgment, self-control, mild temper, and ardent affection for him, 
that she had such a controlling influence over him. 

He had crowned himself with glory by his splendid victory 
at New Orleans. His proceedings subsequent to that event, 
— in entering the Floridas at the head of his army, taking St. 
Mark's and Pensacola, and hanging Arbuthnot and Ambrister, — 
together with the investigation of his proceedings in Congress, 
and the long and acrimonious debate which ensued, had made 
his name as familiar as household words to every American 
citizen; and probably every one "had formed and expressed 
an opinion" in regard to him, of condemnation or approbation. 

With the frank bearing and apparent guilelessness of a rough 
soldier, the general possessed in a high degree the tact and 
shrewdness of an adroit politician. He knew as well as Alci- 



GENERAL JACKSON. 37 

blades the importance of kecpin<^ himself constantly before the 
people and of being talked about, and to this end seized every 
favorable opportunity to utter some emphatic or strikinc^ senti- 
ment or expression that should " tickle the ears of the (rround- 
lings." No one understood this art better than himself, or 
practiced it more successfully. His reply to the letter addressed 
to him by the committee of the Dauphin County meeting which 
nominated him, is a model for an aspiring politician. This 
reply is dated New Orleans, February 23, 1823, and in it. 
among other things, — for this letter was by no means a brief 
one, — he says, — 

" For the services which I may have rendered, and which, it 
is hoped, proved in a degree beneficial to my country, I have 
nothing to ask. They are richly repaid with the confidence 
and good opinion of the virtuous and well-deserving part of the 
community. I have only essayed to discharge a debt which 
every man owes his country when her rights are invaded; and 
if twelve years' exposure to fatigue and numerous privations 
can warrant the assertion, I may venture to assert that my 
portion of public service has been performed, and that with this 
impression I have retired from the bu.sy scenes of public life 
with a desire to be a spectator merely of passing events. 

" The office of chief magistrate of the Union is one of great 
responsibility. As it should not be sought by any one indi- 
vidual of the republic, so it cannot with propriety be declined 
when offered by those who have the power of selection. It is 
interesting to the Anjcrican people alone, and in the election 
they should exercise their free and unbiased judgment. It was 
with these impressions, I presume, and without any consultation 
with me, that the members of the Legislature of the State of 
Tennessee, as an additional testimony of their confidence in me, 
thought proper to present my name to the American com- 
munity. My political creed prompts me to leave the affair, un- 
influenced by any expression on my part, to the free will of 
those who have alone the right to decide. 

*' Your obedient, etc., 

" Andrew Jackson. 

"The Committee of Dauphin County." 



38 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



For adroit insinuation, apparent guilelessness and absence 
of all ambition or desire to be President, commend us to this 
epistle. It was generally published, and called forth much 
comment. The first part of the last paragraph took wonder- 
fully with the people : " The office of chief magistrate of the 
Union is one of great responsibility, and should not be sought 
by any one individual of the republic." It expressed exactly the 
idea of that portion of the American people whom the general 
flatteringly denominated "the virtuous and well-deserving;" 
that is, that no man ought to have an office, and especially the 
Presidency, who sought it. 

But General Jackson took the precaution to say that though, 
the office of chief magistrate should not be sought, neither 
should it be declined " when offered by those who have the 
power of selection," thereby intimating that if nominated by 
the people, instead of by a caucus, he should not decline the 
honor. He was at this time, and ever afjter, hostile to the 
" caucus," which had already nominated Mr. Crawford. 

As all the candidates now presented to the country for the 
high office of President, except General Jackson, were neces- 
sarily residing at Washington, or were called there for a time 
during the sessions of Congress in the discharge of important 
public duties, it is not improbable that the friends of the general 
deemed it important to his success that he should be placed on 
public duty there, where Presidents had been and might again be 
made ; where he could play a part in the great game, or watch 
the manoeuvres of his rivals. Luckily for him and his special 
friends, the term for which Colonel John Williams, of East Ten- 
nessee, had been elected had expired on the 3d of March, 1823. 

Colonel John Williams had long served his State as United 
States Senator in the most acceptable manner. He was a man 
of high-toned honor and principle, and of ability far above the 
ordinary standard, but he was known to be partial to Mr. Craw- 
ford. This, and the desire to place General Jackson where he 
could look after his own interests and stand prominently before 
the public, induced the Legislature to elect him over Colonel 
Williams to the Senate of the United States, and he took his 
seat at the session of Congress of 1823-4. 



GENERAL JACKSON. 



39 



But in elevating him to the Senate of the United States it 
was deemed necessary to do it in a manner that should attract 
attention and produce dramatic effect. His formal consent to 
serve the State in the high position of Senator was to be 
obtained; and in seeking this his declaration to the Dauphin 
County committee, — that "office should be neither sought 
nor declined," — which had so pleased the people, could be 
reiterated so that it might not be forgotten, and he could be 
furnished with an opportunity to write another letter for the 
public eye, to be read by " the virtuous and well-deserving," 
whose good opinion he was very laudably desirous to win. 

The following letter was on this occasion addressed to him : 



'fc. 



" MuRFREESBOROUGH, September 20, 1823. 
"Dear General, — I am particularly requested, by many 
friends of yours, to inquire if you are willing to serve in the 
Senate of the United States. The general wish here is that you 
may assent to what your friends earnestly desire, and enter 
upon a service which, though at war with your individual in- 
terest, is yet one which it is hoped you will not decline. In- 
deed, looking to the declaration made by you to the committee 
of the State of Pennsylvania, ' that office should be neither 
sought for nor declined,' a strong disposition was entertained 
to venture your name for the proposed appointment without 
inquiring of you aught about it ; but, considering that you are 
at a convenient distance, I have thought proper, at the desire 
of several of the members, to propose it in confidence to you. 

All we want is a belief that you will permit your name to be 
used. 

" I am, with very great respect, your mo.st obedient, 

"Abram Maury. 

" General Andrew Jackson." 

To which General Jackson returned the following reply : 

"Hermitage, 21st September, 1823. 
" Dear Sir, — Your letter of yesterday has reached me, stating 
it to be the desire of many members of the Legislature that my 



40 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

name may be proposed for the appointment of Senator to Con- 
gress. It is verj' true, as you remark, that I have not only said, 
but have, I beheve, through h'fe acted upon the principle, that 
office, in a republican government like ours, should not be 
solicited, nor )'et, when conferred, declined ; still, I would sug- 
gest to my friends whether they ought not to excuse me from 
accepting the appointment they have proposed. There are many 
better qualified to meet the fatigues of the journey than myself, 
and on whose services a reliance for a time to come, with a 
prospect of becoming better as they advance, might be safely 
reposed : whereas, from health impaired and advancing age, 
neither the one nor the other could be calculated on from me ; 
and, besides, it might be thought, nay, would be said, that my 
State had conferred it upon me with a view to other objects 
and for other purposes, which are at present pending before 
the nation. I have, therefore, earnestly to request my friends, 
and beg of you, not to press me to an acceptance of the appoint- 
ment. If appointed, I could not decline; and yet, in accepting, 
I should do great violence to my wishes and to my feelings. 
The length of time I have passed in public service authorizes 
me to make this request, which with my friends, I trust, will be 
considered reasonable and proper. 

" With great regard, I am very respectfully yours, 

" Andrew Jackson. 

" Major Abram Maury, member of the House of Repre- 
sentatives." 

This letter is also a model one. What maiden-like coyness 
and sincere excuses ! " It is true I have through life acted on 
the principle that office should not be solicited, nor yet, ivheii con- 
ferred, declined. But I would suggest to my friends whether 
they ought not to excuse me. Tiiere are others better quali- 
fied to meet the fatigues of the journey, — impaired health, ad- 
vancing age. I beg you, therefore, not to press me to accept 
the appointment. If appointed, I could not decline ; but in 
accepting, should do great violence to my wishes and feelings." 
The tenor of the letter was well understood by those to Avhom 
it was addressed, and who acted in accordance with the known 



JACKSON NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT. 41 

wishes of the general in electing him, lie was, of course, not 
excused. 

Meantime, the tide of his pojnilarity was steadily rising ; the 
halo which surrounded "the hero of New Orleans" was en- 
larging and brightening, and attracted more and more the 
attention of the common people, especially in Pennsylvania and 
some of the Southern and Southwestern States. 

GENERAL JACKSON NOMINATED FOR PRESIDENT BY THE STATE 
CONVENTION OF FEDERALISTS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 

Though the Federal party, as a national part)-, had long 
ceased to exist, it still maintained its organization in Pennsyl- 
vania, — Mr. Ikichanan having been elected to the PLighteenth 
Congress as a Federalist, in opposition to his Democratic com- 
petitor. That party held a State convention at Harrisburg, 
February 22, 1824, and nominated Andrew Gregg for Governor. 
They also nominated General Jackson for President, under the 
impression that they could carry the State by the force of his 
military popularity. 

Mr. Calhoun was popular in Pennsylvania, from the fact that 
he was the advocate of protection to domestic manufactures 
and internal improvements, — Pennsylvania's favorite measures. 
At a meeting of the citizens of Carlisle a resolution was offered 
expressing their preference for him for President, which was 
amended by striking out his name and inserting that of Andrew 
Jackson, the amendment being carried by acclamation. Sim- 
ilar indications of a preference of the people of that State for 
General Jackson over all others were made manifest. 

Soon after this, on the i8th of P'ebruary, a large Democratic 
meeting was held in Philadelphia to select delegates to the 
State convention to be held at Harrisburg on the 4th of March, 
1824. At this Philadelphia meeting Mr. George M. Dallas, the 
well-known friend of Mr. Calhoun, rose and said that in defer- 
ence to what seemed to be the preference of the people of 
Pennsylvania he withdrew the name of John C. Calhoun as a 
candidate for the Presidency, and proposed the nomination of 
Andrew Jackson for President and Mr. Calhoun for Vice-Presi- 
dent, and that these nominations be recommended to the State 



42 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



convention. The proposition was carried without opposition. 
After nominating Andrew Shultz for Governor, the State con- 
vention nominated Jackson and Calhoun for President and Vice- 
President, though not without strong opposition. An attempt 
was made to get the convention to confirm the nomination 
already made by the Congressional caucus, — Mr. Crawford 
for President and Mr. Gallatin for Vice-President, — but this 
most signally failed, the Democrats no longer recognizing the 
authority of a Congressional caucus, and that which had nomi- 
nated Mr. Crawford having been recognized and attended by 
very few members. 

The nomination of General Jackson by the State convention 
greatly incensed the Crawford men, or Radical Democrats, as 
they were called, who condemned it as an act of political treason, 
since he was at this time denounced by all the leading Demo- 
cratic papers in the cities and different parts of the country, 
in unmeasured terms, as "no Republican," "unfit to be Presi- 
dent," " whose election would be a curse to the country," etc. 
The Democrats par excellence — Crawford men, or " Radicals" 
— called and held a convention at Harrisburg on the 9th of 
August, and in the most energetic terms repudiated the nomi- 
nation of General Jackson and resolved to adhere to " the true 
Democratic candidate, Mr. Crawford." But the general having 
been nominated by the regular conventions of both parties, 
no opposition could check his overwhelming popularity in the 
Keystone State. He was the idol of the German population, 
some of whom, it used to be ironically said, continued to vote 
for him long after he was laid in his grave. His Dauphin letter, 
and his letter to Mr. Maury, consenting, with maiden coyness 
and modesty, to accept an election to the United States Senate, 
delighted the people and gave him a popularity wholly unpre- 
cedented. 

The withdrawal of Mr. Calhoun as a candidate for President 
by his personal friend Mr. Dallas, and his nomination as Vice- 
President with Jackson as President, created some surprise, in- 
asmuch as it was no secret that he had all along preferred the 
election of Mr. Adams above all others. But it was soon known 
that he " accepted the situation." How far this committed him 



WASHINGTON SOCIETY. 



43 



to the support of General Jackson was not then known. He 
was popular in New England, Mr. Adams's stronghold, and 
received nearly every electoral vote of that section, except that 
of Connecticut, and enough elsewhere to give him one hundred 
and eighty-two out of two hundred and sixty-one electoral 
votes. 

WASHINGTON SOCIETY, 1817-25. 

In looking back to the customs, modes, manners, ceremonies, 
and dress of our first and early Presidents and those who con- 
stituted the best society of those days, or, as some have styled 
the society at the national cajiital. " The Republican Court," 
which is by no means an uninteresting review, we must bear in 
mind the circumstances by which they were surrounded, their 
early education, training, social position, and wealth. They had 
mostly been born and reared under a monarchical government, 
of which aristocracy was one of the main pillars. 

As in the mother country, so in the colonies, there was a 
broad distinction between the upper and the lower classes ; yet 
there was a middle class in England then, as now, and also in 
all the colonies, consisting of landed proprietors, eminent and 
successful merchants, bankers, lawyers, physicians, etc. In the 
colonies, these constituted the leading men of the country, and 
their families the social circles. Many of the professional men, 
especially lawyers, and many also of the Southern planters, 
were educated at our own colleges, or, either in whole or in 
part, in England, where they mingled in the best society of the 
mother country. Some, if not many of them, had relatives 
there belonging to the aristocracy of title, rank, or wealth. Of 
course the forms, usages, and fashions of that class in England 
were those of the best and most refined society in the colo- 
nies. Such, and so educated, were our Washingtons, Adamses, 
Hancocks, Jeffersons, Madisons, Hamiltons, Otiscs, Quincys, 
Cabots, Sedgwicks, Jays, Randolphs, Pendletons, Pinckneys, 
Kings, Shermans, Shippens, Carrolls, Gerrys, Binghams, Wil- 
lingses, Clintons, Winthrops, Chews, Ogles, Taylors, Lees, 
Izards, Ellsworths, Edwardses, Wolcotts, Goodriches, and 
thousands of others, whose names have now become obscured 
or blotted out altogether. 



44 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

General Washington being commander-in-chief of the armies 
of the Revolution, and subordinate to him not only American 
generals of high reputation and self-appreciation, such as Lee 
and Gates, but French and other foreign generals of high rank 
and social position in their own respective countries, it was 
necessary for him to assume and maintain the dignity and 
command the respect due to him as chief That he preserved 
that dignity and inspired that respect we all know. 

When he became President of the United States, he considered 
himself, in his official capacity, as the representative and embodi- 
ment of the Nation, and felt it incumbent on him to maintain 
in his own person the dignity of a free and independent people ; 
and this was to be done by observing, in some measure, the 
forms, ceremonies, and etiquette of foreign courts. In carrying 
out this idea, he undoubtedly conformed to the general opinion 
of those by whom he was surrounded, and who at that time, to 
a considerable extent, formed and controlled public opinion. 

There was, therefore, under Washington much official cere- 
mony and formality. He received company at his levees with 
a dress-sword by his side, bowed to them as they came up and 
passed on, but never shook hands with any one, or relaxed his 
dignity and formality so far as to speak familiarly to any one, 
while thus receiving, as the embodied nation, the homage or 
salutations of all. From the President, the company passed on 
and were presented to Mrs. Washington, who received them 
with grace and dignified affability. 

All this stateliness and ceremony would be out of place now, 
and might excite ridicule and denunciation ; but the present 
usages would have been as abhorrent to our forefathers as 
theirs could possibly be to us. They were governed by the 
usages they had been accustomed to ; so are we. 

Mr. Adams had not the commanding jjresence and stately 
dignity of Washington, nor the moral impression which the 
latter produced upon all who approached him. But the usages 
and etiquette established by the first President were kept up by 
the second, except in regard to equipage. General Washington 
was fond of horses, and prided himself on his stud of full-bloods, 
six of which were attached to his carriage on state occasions. 



VVASIIIXGTON SOCIETY. 



45 



Mr. Jefferson, though accustomed, in early Hfc at least, to 
aristocratic society, came into the Presidency as a democrat 
and the apostle of democracy, and upon entering the White 
House discarded all forms and ceremonies, adopting a rather 
ostentatious plainness of living and receiving company, — all 
being free to come and go at all times. 

Under Mr. Madison's reign, former customs and modes were 
partially resumed by Mrs. Madison, who presided at the White 
House with great eclat, winning golden opinions and admira- 
tion from all. No material change took place during Mr. 
Monroe's eight- or Mr. J. Q. Adams's four-years' administra- 
tion ; but a great change was perceptible under General Jackson, 
and from that time to the present it has been going on. 

With these preliminary remarks, I come to the society in 
Washington from 1817 to the close of Mr. J. Q. Adams's 
administration. 

Among the eminent and distinguished men who constituted 
and adorned " Washington society" at that time — Senators, 
members of the House of Representatives, Judges of the Su- 
preme Court, officers of the army and navy, besides the five 
candidates for the Presidency, Adams, Crawford, Jackson, Clay, 
Calhoun — were the venerable and learned Marshall ; the viva- 
cious, witty, and profound Story ; the sage yet chivalric John- 
son, of South Carolina; the two " model gentlemen" of the old 
school, of small-clothes and courtly manners, Senators Rufus 
King and Gaillard, of South Carolina ; the two Lloyds, Sena- 
tors from Massachusetts and Maryland ; the heroic Brown, 
Scott, Gaines, Ripley, Macomb, Jessup, Towson, Gibson, De- 
catur, Bainbridge, Hull, Stewart, Tingey, McDonough, and 
Chauncey ; besides a constellation of lesser, but equally brave 
and heroic, military and naval stars; the eloquent " model gen- 
tleman," Pinckney; the accomplished Wirt; the massive Web- 
ster; the mellifluous Storrs; the grave James, and the meta- 
physical Philip P. Barbour; the poetic and universally admired 
Wilde ; the logical, clear-headed Sergeant ; the indefatigable, 
dogmatic, and imperious Benton; the impassioned McDuftie; 
the historian of " the Six Nations," Colden ; the witty and 
facetious John Holmes; the smooth-tongued \'an Buren; the 



Nj 



46 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

bland Lewis McLanc; the upright and honest John McLean; 
the modest but fearless Governor Metcalf; the brave, noble- 
hearted General Vance; the pioneer patriots Governors Mc- 
Arthur and Morrow; the humorous Letcher; the erratic genius 
Barton ; the gallant Hotspur, Hamilton, of South Carolina : in 
short, — for I could treble this list, — here assembled the verj' 
elite of those in any way connected with the government, in 
Congress, in the army and navy, and in the civil service. And 
here, too, were those of the other sex, worthy companions of 
the first in the land, together forming a brilliant and harmonious 
whole rarely met with elsewhere. 

At no period since the government was removed to its per- 
manent seat has the society of Washington been more refined 
and brilliant than when its hospitalities were dispensed by Mr. 
Madison, Mr. Monroe, Mr. Adams, Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Wirt, Mr. 
Rush, Mr. Southard, General Scott, General Macomb, and other 
Americans, and Mr. Vaughan, Don Onis, Hyde de Neuville, Mr. 
Serrurier, Baron Krudener, Count de Menu, and other foreign 
ministers. 

The various drawing-rooms were not then filled to suffocation 
by a motley crowd generally unknown to each other and 
hardly known to the host and hostess. A large portion of 
those who constituted "the society of Washington" were per- 
sonal acquaintances; their social intercourse was more frequent, 
genial, and agreeable, and especially free from that stiff reserve 
and lack of conversation which must characterize a company 
made up mostly of those who are unknown to each other, and 
especially of those but little accustomed to refined society. 

There were no railroads in those days ; consequently the 
number of persons, especially ladies, sojourning here during 
the sessions of Congress was very small compared to the pres- 
ent time. Besides, it was less the custom then for heads of 
families, and even unmarried men and women, to leave their 
homes and spend the summer at one place and the winter at 
another, seeking that happiness which, if not found at home, 
can be found nowhere. 

There was less wealth in those days, but not less refinement 
and happiness. It might be considered invidious or cynical 



WASHINGTON SOCIETY. ^y 

were I to say that both men and women had something to do 
at home, and were not driven away by idleness and ennui, the 
most insupportable of all companions. 

It was customary to go to parties about eight o'clock* and 
leave from ten to eleven. Dancing at parties was usual, — in- 
variable, I believe, at large parties. The rooms, however, were 
furnished in a far less costly manner than at present. Hair- 
seated mahogany chairs and sofas were the most fashionable 
and expensive then used ; nor did all even well-to-do people 
have these. 

The custom in Washington then was, at every large evening 
party, to set tables for those gentlemen who preferred to amuse 
themselves with cards ; and there were often several parties thus 
engaged. Whist was the game, and the stakes were generally 
high. Mr. Vaughan, British Minister, and afterwards his suc- 
cessor, Mr. Fox, nephew of Charles James, Baron Krudener, 
Russian Minister, and his successor, Mr. Bodisco, — indeed, 
nearly all the foreign ministers, — Mr. Clay, General Scott, 
General Cass, Mr. Forsyth, Mr. Poindexter, and many others 
whom I might name, were usually seen thus amusing them- 
selves. Mr. Fox had his uncle's passion for play, and it was 
generally believed lost pretty large sums. 

When a candidate for the Presidency, Mr. Clay was denounced 
as "a gambler." He was no more "a gambler" than was almost 
every Southern and Southwestern gentleman of that day. Play 
was a passion with them ; it was a social enjoyment ; they loved 
its excitement, and they played whenever and wherever they 
met ; not for the purpose of winning money of one another, — 
which is the gambler's motive, — but for the pleasure it gave 
them. They bet high as a matter of pride and to give interest 
to the game. 

Of Washington society in 1824 we have pleasant glimpses 
furnished by letters written by Mr. Carter, editor of the New 
York "Statesman," who was in the city that winter as a corre- 
spondent of his own paper, and furnished graphic sketches 
of it; also by verses written by John T. Agg, descriptive of a 
" reception" or ball given by Mrs. Adams, the accomplished lady 

* Til is would be a veiy unfashionable hour to appear at a large party now. 



48 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

of the Secretary of State, on the evening of the 8th of January, 
1824, in honor of General Jackson and the anniversary of the 
battle of New Orleans. 

Mr. Carter gives us a pleasant account of the " levee" held 
by President Monroe on the evening of the 1st of January, 1824, 
and of the celebrities, male and female, there present. 

This reception at the White House by the venerable Presi- 
dent, which Mr. Carter so graphically described, may be re- 
membered by some who "still live;" but the party given by 
Mrs. J. O. Adams, one week later, became almost historical 
from its brilliancy and the circumstances attending it. From 
the elaborate and lively description of it given by Mr. Carter, 
who seems to have been the Jenkins of the day, in a letter to 
the "Statesman," I have made the following brief extract, not 
only as an admirable exhibit of the high-toned society of Wash- 
ington nearly fifty years ago, but as showing the friendly and 
social relations existing between Mr. Adams and General Jack- 
son one year previous to the election of the former and the 
defeat of the latter. As the party was given in honor of the 
"hero" and "the victory of New Orleans," General Jackson 
was "the star of the evening," "the observed of all observers;" 
and it must be admitted that he honored the assembly which 
honored him. 

After describing the reception-rooms and their decorations, 
and giving us glimpses of the brilliant assemblage, Mr. Carter 
proceeds : 

" At nine o'clock General Jackson entered the room, and 
with great dignity and gracefulness of manner conducted Mrs. 
Adams through the apartments. He was in a plain citizen's 
dress, and appeared remarkably well, saluting and receiving the 
congratulations of his friends with his usual urbanity and affa- 
bility. 

" Mrs. Adams was elegantly but not gorgeously dressed. 
Her head-dress and plumes were tastefully arranged. In her 
manners she unites dignity with an unusual share of ease and 
elegance ; and I never saw her appear to greater advantage than 
when promenading the rooms, winding her way through the 
multitude by the side of the gallant general. At the approach 



WASHINGTON SOCIETY. 4^ 

of such a couple the crowd involuntarily gave way as far as 
practicable and saluted them as they passed. 

" Mr. Adams, who is known to be proverbially plain, unas- 
suming, and unostentatious in his manners, received his guests 
with his usual cordiality and unaffected politeness. 

"At about ten o'clock* the doors of a spacious apartment 
were flung open, and a table presented itself to view loaded 
with refreshments of every description, served up in elegant 
style, of which the company were invited to partake without 
ceremony. 

" Conviviality and pleasure reigned throughout the evening, 
and I never saw so many persons together where there was 
apparently so much unmingled happiness." 

The description of this brilliant assemblage, which included 
all the celebrities of Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria, 
as well as large numbers from Baltimore and Richmond, Va., 
would hardly be complete without the well-remembered verses 
of Mr. John F. Agg, by which he duly celebrated the occa- 
sion in advance, and which have done much to hand down its 
celebrity to posterity. 

These lines appeared in the " National Intelligencer" on the 
morning of the 8th of January, and created a lively sensation. 

"MRS. ADAMS' BAI.L. 

"Wend you with the world to-night? 

Brown and fair, and wise and witty, 
Eyes that float in seas of light, 

Laughing mouths, and dimples pretty, 
Belles and matron-^, maids and madams, 
All are gone to Mrs. Adams'. 
There the mist of the future, the gloom of the past. 

All melt into light at the warm glance of pleasure, 
And the only regret is, lest, melting too fast, 

Mammas should move oft' in the midst of a measure. 

"Wend you with the world to-night? 
Si.vty gray, and giddy twenty, 

* Supper at ten o'clock ! What very /^//fashionable people ! 

4 



50 



PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 

Flirts that court, and prudes that slight, 

State coquettes, and spinsters plenty. 
Mrs. Sullivan is there, 

With all the charms that nature lent her; 
Gay McKim, with city air; 

And winning Gales and Vandeventer ; 
Forsyth, with her group of graces ; 

Both the Crowninshields, in blue; 
The Pierces, with their heavenly faces, 

And eyes like suns that dazzle through. 
Belles and matrons, maids and madams, 
All are gone to Mrs. Adams'. 

" Wend you with the world to-night? 

East and West, and South and North, 
Form a constellation bright, 

And pour a blended brilliance forth. 
See the tide of fashion flowing; 

'Tis the noon of beauty's reign. 
Webster, Hamiltons are going. 

Eastern Lloyd, and Southern liayne ; 
Western Thomas, gayly smiling, 

Borland, nature's protegee. 
Young De Wolfe, all hearts beguiling, 

Morgan, Benton, Brown, and Lee. 
Belles and matrons, maids and madams, 
All are gone to Mrs. Adams'. 



&^ 



" Wend you with the world to-night ? 

Where blue eyes are brightly glancing, 
While to measures of delight 

Fairy feet are deftly dancing ; 
Where the young Euphrosyne 

Reigns the mistress of the scene, 
Chasing gloom, and courting glee, 

With the merry tambourine. 
Many a form of fairy birth, 

Many a Hebe, yet unwon, 
Wirt, a gem of jiurcst worth. 

Lively, laughing Pleasanton, 
Vails and Tayloe will be there. 
Gay Monroe, so debonair, 
Hellen, pleasure's harbinger, 
Ramsay, Cottringers, and Kerr. 
Belles and matrons, maids and madams. 
All are gone to Mrs. Adams'. 



WASHINGTON SOCIETY. 5 I 

"Wend you with the workl to-night? 
Juno in her court presides, 
Mirth and mehidy invite, 

Fashion points, and pleasure guides! 
Haste away, then, seize the hour, 
Shun the thorn, and pluck the flower. 
Youth, in all its spring-time blooming, 
Age, the guise of youth assuming, ' 

Wit through all its circles gleaming. 
Glittering wealth and beauty beaming, 
Belles and matrons, maids and madams, 
All are gone to Mrs. Adams'." 

Mr. Carter, of whose letters I have availed myself, spent 
several winters in Washington as a correspondent for the New 
York "Statesman," of which he was editor and proprietor. His 
letters were highly attractive, and greatly extended the circu- 
lation of his paper. He afterwards went to Europe, and wrote 
letters from there to the " Statesman," which were published in 
a volume entitled " Letters from Europe." He was a pleasant 
writer, and his letters were very generally read. 

I first saw Washington City in June, 1824, coming here from 
New York, not flying through with the speed of the wind, while 
one is taking a pleasure-excursion into dream-land, — surrender- 
ing himself into the soft arms of Morpheus at Newark, and 
rising gently therefrom, invigorated and ready for the toils of 
the day, in Washington, — but in a take-things-easy manner, as 
if one did not wish to hurry through the world and get to the 
end too soon. 

I took the steamboat from New York to New Brunswick ; 
there found splendid stages, and equally splendid horses, — 
usually nine stages, each drawn by four horses, and carrying 
nine passengers inside and two on the seat with the driver. 
From the boat the baggage was transferred to the stages, — 
a trunk or valise to each passenger, with an allowance of a 
bandbox to a lady ; a pest and annoyance to gentlemen when, 
as was often the case, the bandbox was an inside passenger. 
The trunks of that day ! why, a lady's trunk of the present 
would easily contain half a dozen of those diminutive things 
invariably covered with untanned calf-, horse-, or cow-hide 
with the hair on, nailed on with an abundance of brass nails, 



52 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



and able to stand for long years the wear and tear of travel by 
stage-coaches, outlasting a dozen trunks of the present day and 
the present custom of banging them in and out of baggage- 
cars. The bandbox, the invariable accompaniment of a lady, 
was the receptacle of the bonnet and sundry small articles 
frequently needed on the journey, and which are now carried 
in that far more convenient article, the satchel. 

Well, the passengers being all seated, and the baggage, to 
the last trunk, being well packed in the " boot" behind the 
stage, and strapped down so as to be made sure, the drivers, 
proud of their teams and their coaches, as well they might be, 
cracked their whips, and away went the nine (sometimes more) 
stages : if in dry weather, throwing up a cloud of dust that soon 
made the outside garment of each passenger, hat and all, the 
same color and the color of the red-clay soil over which we 
were whirling. 

The steamboat from Philadelphia came up to Trenton when 
the state of the river permitted ; but when the water was too 
low for this, it stopped at a landing some miles below, and at 
very low stages of the water at Bristol. But to whatever point 
the boat came, there the stages met her and transferred their 
passengers and baggage. Thence to Philadelphia was by boat, 
the passengers dining aboard, and reaching the city about six 
o'clock P.M. Fare from New York to Philadelphia, two dollars 
and fifty cents. Here we rested over-night. Next morning, at 
six o'clock, left Philadelphia for Baltimore ; namely, by boat to 
New Castle, Del., stages from thence to Frenchtown, head of 
Chesapeake Bay, and boat, under command of Admiral Chater, 
from thence to Baltimore, dining aboard the boat, and arriving 
at Beltshoover's about six o'clock p.m. Fare from Philadelphia 
to Baltimore, six dollars. Next morning took the stage at 
Beltshoover's tavern for Washington ; dine at Waterloo, the 
half-way house, famous for all sorts of rare live birds and pet 
animals ; arrive at Washington about four o'clock p.m. ; stop at 
the " Indian Queen," now the " Metropolitan," designated by 
an appropriately-painted sign of an " Indian queen" swinging 
near the house, kept by the prince of landlords, Mr. Jesse 
Brown, or drive on to Gadsby's, then on the Avenue west of 



WASHINGTON SOCIETY. r-i 

Twenty-first Street, beyond " the seven buildings," whose 
abundant table was always adorned, as was the general custom 
in those days, with decanters of brandy, rum, gin, and other 
liquors, stationed at short intervals, from the head to the foot 
of the table, along its centre ; and for all this, and excellent 
attendance, one dollar and a quarter per day ! Fare from 
Baltimore to Washington, four dollars ; dinner on the way, 
fifty cents. 

This, in spring, summer, and autumn ; but when the Chesa- 
peake Bay and the Delaware River became closed, or so 
blocked with ice that the boats could not run, then the poor 
member of Congress, or other traveler, might exclaim, — 

" Hie labor, hoc opus est." 

The journey was often, in the winter, of two days' and one 
night's length between Philadelphia and Baltimore by stage. 

For many years after this, the " Indian Queen" swung and 
creaked invitingly to arriving weary travelers, many of whom, 
especially those from the West and South, came on horseback, 
and some with a colored servant on another horse, and a pack- 
horse besides, Mr. Brown being prepared to furnish "food and 
lodging for man and horse." The next time I visited Washing- 
ton, Mr. Gadsby had built and occupied his new hotel, the 
present "National." This he conducted in a sort of military 
style, and especially was this observed at his long dinner-table. 
The guests being all seated, and an army of colored servants 
standing behind the chairs, Mr. Gadsby, a short, stout gentle- 
man, standing at the head of the table, the guests silent with 
expectation, the word was given, "Remove covers!" when all 
the servants moved like automata, each at the same moment 
placing his hand upon the handle of a cover, each at the same 
instant lifting it, stepping back in line and facing to the head 
of the table, and, at a sign from Mr. Gadsby, all marching and 
keeping reg.ular step to the place of depositing the covers, and 
then back, to commence waiting on the guests. 

Who, of the hundreds of thousands who in these good old 
cheap, times — only a dollar and a quarter a day — enjoyed the 



54 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



hospitalities of this gentlemanly and most liberal Boniface, can 
forget his urbane manner, his careful attention to his guests, 
his well-ordered house, his fine old wines, and the princely- 
manner in which he would send his bottle of choice Madeira 
to some old friend or favored guest at the table ? 

Washington, in 1824, was the most "straggling" city on the 
continent. The buildings, from the Navy Yard to Rock Creek, 
were standing here and there, on the Avenue, with wide spaces 
between, like the teeth of some superannuated crone, giving rise 
to the sarcasm that it was " a city of magnificent distances," 
and, as some added, " splendid expectations." For the depth 
and adhesiveness of its mud in wet weather, and the quantity of 
its dust in dry, few cities could vie with it, even within a very 
late period ; and as for lights, if the pedestrian did not provide 
and carry his own, he was in danger of discovering every mud- 
hole in his route and sounding its depths. 

Thanks to Congress and our very economical Board of Public 
Works,* there are now comparatively few streets through 
which a sturdy pedestrian may not make his way in any one of 
the twenty-four hours. 

Gadsby and Brown, though of a past generation, like Gales 
and Seaton, were, in their day, essential parts of Washington ; 
and, though they have gone the way of all flesh, they have left 
pleasant memories behind them, and monuments of their good 
judgment, enterprise, and industry, in the "National" and 
" Metropolitan." 

At the time I speak of — 1824 — there were a few good houses 
in the vicinity of the White House, and some on Capitol Hill, 
especially on North A Street and Jersey Avenue South ; but, 
with the exception of these, and some west of the White 
House, the whole eastern, southeastern, and northeastern por- 
tions of the city were inclosed fields or common pastures. On 
the north side of the city, east of Fourteenth, the population 
had only in a very few instances advanced north of F Street. 
From the Post-Officc, on E Street, all north was common pas- 
ture, except the great number of brick-yards, then making brick 
for the Capitol. On these common pastures were hundreds of 
* Now blown sky-high by Congress. 



WASHINGTON SOCIETY. cc 

COWS, owned by the citizens, every family then having one or 
more, no milk being carried around for sale or to supply families, 
as now. Where the Smithsonian building and grounds now 
are were innumerable quagmires in the fall, spring, and winter. 
Great numbers of the clerks in the departments and general 
Post-Office rode to and from their places of business on horse- 
back. There were extensive stables for the use of these and 
the horses of members of Congress, many of whom came on 
horseback from their lodgings — not a few from Georgetown. 

The last regular horj^eback member whom I knew was R. 
Barnwell Rhett, of South Carolina, who always boarded or 
lived in Georgetown, and galloped to and from the Capitol to 
his residence, his horse, while he was at the Capitol, being kept 
in the government stable. 

During the summer of 1824, William H. Crawford, Secretary 
of the Treasury, being in bad health, retired to a mansion z>/ 
tlie coiintry, to wit, the Clement Hill mansion, still standing, 
but improved, on the northwest corner of Fourteenth Street 
and Massachusetts Avenue. It was then far in the country, 
very retired. 

Living, in Washington, at that day, and for twenty or twenty- 
five years after, was v^ery cheap. Best pieces of beef, — sirloin, 
— eight to twelve and a half cents per pound ; mutton, six to 
eight ; oysters, twenty-five to thirty-five cents a bushel in the 
shell ; turkeys, fifty to seventy-five cents each ; partridges and 
other game-birds abundant in their season, and shad, rock, and 
other fish plenty and cheap; flour, five to six dollars a barrel; 
wood, four to five dollars a cord ; servant-hire, four dollars a 
month ; rents of genteel houses, from one hundred and fifty to 
three hundred dollars a year ; large mansions, from five hundred 
to eight hundred dollars a year. But most people owned the 
houses they lived in. 

Heads of bureaus and clerks in the departments. House of 
Representatives, and Senate were then at Jionic here, and felt 
no apprehension of being turned into the street with their 
families, some cold, stormy night, to make way for some lady's 
friend or cousin, or to punish them for entertaining and express- 
ing a political opinion not acceptable to the powers that be 



^6 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

\ The statesmen of that day, down to -the 4th of March, 1829, 
were " old fogies ;" " modern improvements" had not reached 
them ; they were simple enough to think that if a man per- 
formed his duties Jionestly 2ind fait/if it lly, it was all the govern- 
ment should require of him ; his political principles were no 
more a subject of inquiry than his religious opinions. Clerks 

1 

and other officers of the government were not then expected 
to take an active part in politics. Quite the contrary : they 
were expected and enjoined to leave such matters to others. 
It followed that they were neither taxed to carry on a political 
campaign, nor required to return to their respective States and 
vote at elections. Such a practice was never heard of until, 
under General Jackson's reign, it was assumed that the public 
offices were " the spoils of the victors," to be seized and dis- 
tributed as rewards to faithful partisans, whether competent to 
perform the duties or not. Like fiefs under the old feudal 
system, they were the rewards of service, but to be held only 
on the continual rendition of service ; and thus the federal 
officers became a standing army of political mercenaries ! Is 
it any wonder that, after this demoralizing system has been 
in operation forty-three years, a reform should be loudly 
called for ? 

INTRIGUES TO MAKE GENERAL JACKSON PRESIDENT. HIS COLE- 
MAN LETTER. 

It was the general opinion of the people of the United States, 
in 1823-4, that General Jackson was a calm and passive if not 
an indifferent observer of public events, and especially of what 
appeared to be the spontaneous movement of the people in his 
favor. The machinery which was industriously put in opera- 
tion behind the scenes to effect the actual results brought about 
was unperceived and unsuspected. But it will be shown that 
he was no such indifferent observer as he was supposed to be. 
He had a corps of friends around him who were as skillful as 
they were indefatigable tacticians in political management. 

They had established or secured the use and influence of 
a paper in Philadelphia, the " Columbian Observer," Stephen 
Simpson, editor, and it will be seen they kept him well advised 



INTRIGUES TO MAKE JACKSON PRESIDENT ry 

t 

in regard to their movements, and well instructed as to the 
course he was to pursue, — whom he was to assail and whom to 
flatter or mollify. 

Major John H. Eaton, General Jackson's colleague in the 
United States Senate, tmd William B. Lewis, of Nashville, were 
at this time the general's most confidential friends. It was 
supposed, in 1824, that Mr. Crawford was the candidate most 
formidable to the general ; it was, therefore, the policy of his 
friends to endeavor to depreciate him in the public estimation : 
hence they represented Mr. Crawford as "a Giant of Intrigue," 
and as being engaged in various intrigues with prominent men 
with a view to secure his election as President. 

On the 7th of April, 1824, Major Eaton addressed the follow- 
ing letter to Mr. Simpson,'editor of the "Columbian Observer:" 

" Dear Sir, — I believe, as I all along expressed myself, that 
our Presidential contest will result in but one way. The lead- 
ing men say that long practice and established usage is in favor 
of the caucus system. To sustain the principle, — for they profess 
to act on principle, — the caucus candidate will be pressed through 
every possible channel and by every possible means that policy 
and ingenuity can suggest. Mr. Crawford is this man. 

" In opposition to that and him stands the: people's candidate, 
based on the ground that caucus dictation is illegitimate, and 
that the people are sovereign and should bear sway. On whom 
is this sentiment to be made to rally? Not on Mr. Adams, — he 
cannot fasten here, nor is he, nor can he be, the caucus favorite. 
Jackson, I say, is the only man on whom the feeling of the 
nation and the people can be rallied. He and Crazvford are to 
make the race. If so, policy dictates that nothing on the part of 
Jackson's friends should be said or done to excite or drive to 
the Crazvford banner the friends of Mr. Adams." 

In a similar strain wrote Wm. B. Lewis to Simpson on the 
6th of September, 1824. Mr. Lewis says, — 

"I have just been informed, by a gentleman of laudable 
veracity, . . . that the friends of Crawford and Clay have 
agreed to unite their forces in favor of the former, and in that 



58 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

way secure his election. . . , The scheme in the western sec- 
tion of the Union is, that the name of Mr. Clay shall be kept 
up with a view of getting as many of the electoral votes as 
possible, which, before they proceed to elect the President and 
Vice-President, are to be turned over to Crawford. . . . 

" I have also been informed, by a gentleman who, I know, is 
in the confidence of the Radicals [Crawford men], that if Mr. 
Crawford shall be elected Clay is to be his Secretary of State, 
and that Mr. Cheves is to be made Secretary of the Treasury. 
. . . The same gentleman informed me that Webster is to be 
made Secretary of the Navy. When I look at the conduct of 
these gentlemen, I cannot doubt the correctness of the informa- 
tion; and I trust in God that the people will rise in the majesty 
of their power and arrest this Giant of Intrigue [William H. 
Crawford] in his career before it is too late. 

"... Permit me to suggest the propriety of not being too 
severe on Adams and his friends. I have no doubt, if Adams 
cannot be elected himself, that he would prefer the election of 
General Jackson to that of any other person. I am somewhat 
fearful that if Adams should be broken down altogether, the 
New England States will go for Crawford if he should get the 
State of New York. Therefore let us take care and not lose 
Adams and his friends." 

Mr. Lewis adds, " I have thought proper to advise you of 
these things in order that you may understand the movements 
of these electioneering, intriguing, and unprincipled gentry." 

No machinations, no political scheming, no intrigue here ! 
Mr. Crawford, who, according to Mr. Eaton, was to make the 
race with Jackson, is denounced as " a Giant of Intrigue^' and 
an intrigue is manufactured for him which comprehended him- 
self, Mr. Clay, Mr. Cheves, and Mr. Webster, of which neither 
of those gentlemen knew aught, and which existed only in the 
scheming brains of these intriguing friends of General Jackson. 

Was General Jackson privy to this intrigue going on with 
a view to the securing of his election ? It is not probable 
that he was entirely ignorant of it ; and this supposition is 
sustained by the following letter written by himself to Mr. 
Simpson: 



/ 
/ 



INTRIGUES 7 MAKE JACKSON PRESIDENT. jg 

" Hermitage, near Nashville, August iS, 1824. 

" S. Simpson, Esq. : 

" Dear Sir, — This will be handed you by yolm H. Lezvis, 
Esq., of Albany, to whom I beg leave to introduce you. Mr. 
Lewis is on a tour of observation upon the western and eastern 
sections of the United States, and will be thankful for any civili- 
ties which you may extend to him. I recommend him to your 
notice as a gentleman of good standing and respectability, and 
who will justly appreciate the attentions which are bestowed 
upon him. 

" With great respect, sir, I am your very obedient servant, 

" Andrew Jackson." 

" On a tour of observation" — of what ? Why, to sec how 
Jackson was taking with the people, and to ascertain which of 
the other candidates stood most in his way ; what must be 
done to conciliate the friends of this or charge the friends of 
that candidate with bargain and intrigue. 

Though Mr. Calhoun had been nominated as Vice-President 
by the same convention in Pennsylvania that nominated General 
Jackson for President, Mr. Simpson had expressed distrust of 
him and his friends, which called out a letter from Major Eaton 
to him, dated 13th December, 1824. 

He says, " In your paper, received to-day, I perceive an 
editorial remark that Calhoun and his friends will seek to pro- 
duce a failure in the Presidential election here that he maj^ suc- 
ceed [as Vice-President]. Your informant is in error. . . . 
Every State where Mr. Calhoun has been supposed to have any 
strength will stand for General Jackson ; and what more can the 
general's friends desire than that they should be true and firm 
to him ? Do change your editorial remarks, and do build a con- 
tradiction, not on any communication received from Washington, 
but on your own calculation and the high confidence reposed 
in the integrity of Mr. Calhoun and those who are his friends." 

So it w^as deemed necessary by one of these intriguers that 
Mr. Calhoun and his friends should be conciliated, and an ex- 
pression put forth of "high confidence in his integrity and those 
who are his friends." 



6o PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

It was done as ordered. Mr. Crawford was denounced as "a 
Giant of Intrigue," and as having entered into a cabal, league, 
or intrigue with Clay, Cheves, and Webster, by Wm. B. Lewis, 
one of these intriguers. But subsequently it was feared they 
had gone too far in denouncing him : they began to perceive 
that he was not so formidable a candidate as they had sup- 
posed, and that he might be defeated. Mr. Lewis, therefore, 
wrote to Mr. Simpson thus : " Crawford's friends cannot believe 
he stands any chance of success. [This was after Mr. Craw- 
ford's health had become seriously impaired by paralysis.] I 
have no doubt they feel pretty sore. Oil oiigJit to be poured into 
their ivounds by the friends of yackson. With the States that 
support Jiini we may bid defiance to the ' Yankee nation,' — in 
other words, to Mr. Adams and his friends." 

In a subsequent letter to Mr. Simpson, Mr. Lewis says, " The 
Crawford gentry feel quite sore under it [one of his denuncia- 
tory letters], and are just now amazingly restless." 

On looking back and gathering together the different parts 
of the drama which was going on in 1823-4, we cannot fail to 
see these two active friends and confidants of General Jackson 
prominent in performing vedette, signal, and drill duty for him. 
Whatever move was made, or supposed to be made, by any 
candidate for the Presidency was immediately made known to 
Mr. Simpson, and the proper course for him to take in con- 
sequence thereof promptly indicated. Whoever was for the 
moment considered the most formidable rival of General Jack- 
son was to be assailed ; but if that candidate became weak, oil 
was directed to be poured into his wounds, and his friends con- 
ciliated, in the hope that they would finally come to the support 
of the general. After stigmatizing Mr. Crawford as a " giant 
of intrigue," and endeavoring to cast odium upon him, seeing 
that he is likely to be dropped out of the ring, they forthwith 
take steps to win his friends ; " for," say they, " with the States 
that support ////// wc may bid defiance to the Yankee natiofi." 
Yet all this time the people were made to believe that General 
Jackson was indifferent to the result of the election, and only 
looked on as " a spectator of passing events," as he had said 
to the Dauphin County Committee he desired to be. 



JACKSON DENOUNCED BY DEMOCRATIC PAPERS. 6l 

GENERAL JACKSON DENOUNCED BY THE LEADING DEMOCRATIC 
PAPERS. IS IN FAVOR OF A PROTECTIVE TARIFF. — HIS COLE- 
MAN LETTER. 

I have already said that the leading organs of the Democratic 
party — the " Albany Argus," Noah's " New York Advocate," the 
" Richmond Inquirer,". the " New Hampshire Patriot," and other 
papers, all friendly to Mr. Crawford and advocating his election 
— were open in their hostility to "Mr. Jackson," as Mr. Ritchie, 
of the " Richmond Inquirer," denominated him, and declared 
that " his election would be a curse to the country." 

Pages of extracts from these papers, denouncing him in severe 
terms, could be quoted ; but they have been so often reprinted 
that they could hardly be new, even to the generation born since 
they were promulgated. Yet in a brief space of time these 
organs of the party were as laudatory of " the hero of New 
Orleans" as they had been denunciatory of " Mister yackson." 

William B. Lewis was a most astute, cool-headed politician, 
and a sagacious, prudent, far-seeing manager of the general's 
cause. He may almost be said to have made General Jackson 
President. He knew whatever was going on in any and every 
part of the Union calculated to affect the general's prospects, 
and promptly acted as circumstances demanded. He could 
hold within his own breast information both interesting and 
highly important to the general, for months, when he conceived 
it would do mischief to reveal it before the proper time arrived 
to use it with effect. By way of example : Mr. Crawford wrote 
a letter to Mr. Forsyth, undoubtedly intended for General Jack- 
son's eye, revealing the secrets of Mr. Monroe's cabinet, stating 
that Mr. Calhoun proposed in cabinet meeting that General 
Jackson should be called to account — brought before a court 
of inquiry, or otherwise — for his invasion of Florida ; in other 
words, exhibiting an unfriendly feeling to him. 

This letter Mr. Lewis saw months before he let General 
Jackson know it was in existence. He well knew that, should 
the information it gave come to the knowledge of the general, 
an immediate quarrel between the two distinguishfed gentlemen 
would be inevitable ; but a quarrel between them at that 
moment might, and probably would, seriously affect the inter- 



62 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

ests of the Jackson cause ; and so it was closely locked in 
Mr. Lewis's breast till it was prudent for General Jackson to 
quarrel with Mr. Calhoun and cast him off. Mr. Lewis had the 
wisdom and self-control to bide his time, — a most rare virtue 
in a politician. He seemed to have the entire confidence of 
the general, to which he was certainly entitled, and to act in 
the character of his privy councillor ; and we have reason to 
believe that many of the published letters and other papers 
coming from the general were the inspiration of his mind and 
the production of his pen. He was a devoted, true, faithful, 
and judicious friend to the general so long as they both lived. 

THE COLEMAN LETTER. 

In order to present a continuous chain of events inseparably 
linked together, I have omitted, in its chronological order, to 
speak of another important letter written by General Jackson. 
The policy of giving protection to American manufactures and 
American labor, as opposed to what is termed free trade with 
foreign countries, was in 1824, as at this time, one upon which 
public opinion was divided. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, a 
large portion of New York, and almost the entire population 
of the New England States, were ardently in favor of protection. 
General Jackson's views in regard to this matter, not being 
known, were drawn out and made public in a letter addressed 
by him to Dr. L. H. Coleman, of North Carolina, which became 
quite celebrated. It was certainly a very frank, unreserved, 
plain-spoken expression of opinions on this subject. 

The letter was dated at Washington City, April 26, 1824, 
General Jackson being then in the United States Senate. It 
was long, but the following portion of it will speak for the 

whole : 

"Washington Crry, April 26, 1824. 

***>!<***5|< 

"Providence has filled our mountains and our plains with 
minerals, — with lead, iron, and copper, — and given us a climate 
and soil for tlie growing of hemp and wool. These being the 
grand materials of our national defense, they ought to have 
extended to them adequate and fair protection, that our own 



THE COLEMAN LETTER. 



63 



manufactories and laborers may be placed on a fair competition 
with those of Europe, and that we may have within our country a 

supply of those leading and important articles so essential in war. 

******** 

" Where has the American farmer a market for his surplus 

product? Except for cotton, he has neither a foreign nor a home 

market. Does not this clearly prove, when there is no market 

either at home or abroad, that there is too much labor employed 

in agriculture, and that the channels for labor should be multi- 

plied ? Common sense points out at once the remedy. Draw 

from agriculture this abundant labor ; employ it in mechanism 

and manufactures, thereby creating a home market for your 

breadstuffs, and distributing labor to the most profitable account, 

and benefits to the country will result. In short, sir, we have 

been too long subject to the policy of the British merchants. 

It is time we should become a little more Americanized, and, 

instead of feeding the paupers and laborers of England, feed 

our own, or else, in a short time, by continuing our present 

policy, we shall all be rendered paupers ourselves. 

******** 

" I am, sir, very respectfully, your most obedient servant, 

" Andrew Jackson. 

" Dr. L. H. Coleman, Warrenton, N.C." 

No one can doubt that in this letter General Jackson gave 
utterance to the strong convictions of his mind ; and those 
convictions are expressed in language and with an emphasis 
and energy calculated to carry conviction to the minds of the 
great mass of the people. The letter, therefore, produced a 
marked effect upon the public mind; it was argument and 
demonstration combined, while it adroitly appealed to the 
pride and national feeling as well as patriotism of Americans. 

His votes in the Senate clearly show that he expressed his 
honest sentiments in the Coleman letter, having voted in that 
body against removing the duty on cotton bagging, against 
reducing the duty on imported iron, and against reducing the 
duty on woolen goods ; in each of these cases going with the 
friends and advocates of protection. 



64 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



In regard to internal improvements by national means, his 
votes show that he went as far as the farthest in this direction, 
voting to authorize a subscription by the government to the 
Louisville and Portland Canal ; a bill to extend the Cumberland 
Road ; a bill to improve the navigation of the Mississippi, Ohio, 
and Missouri Rivers ; a bill to subscribe to the stock of the 
Chesapeake and Delaware Canal ; and other similar bills. 

GENERAL JACKSON'S MONROE LETTERS. 

Other letters written by General Jackson, many years pre- 
vious, were made public about this time, and attracted much 
attention. They, moreover, did a good deal towards winning 
to his support that class of men who had once constituted the 
Federal party, and who had been exiled from positions at the 
disposal of the President and Senate since the advent of Jeffer- 
son to the office of chief magistrate. 

These letters were denominated " the Monroe letters," being 
addressed to Mr. Monroe by General Jackson, with Mr. Mon- 
roe's replies. The correspondence was somewhat voluminous, 
the letters being pretty long. I shall make very brief extracts 
from them. 

In his first letter, written mainly on business, and dated 
Nashville, 23d October, 18 16, General Jackson takes occasion 
to say, — 

..." Having learnt from General David Meriwether that 
Mr. Crawford is about to retire from the Department of War, I 
am inclined, as a friend to you and the government, to bring to 
your notice, as a fit character to fill that office, Colonel William 
H. Drayton, late of the army of the United States." . . . 

His second letter, marked private, was dated 

"Nashville, November 12, 1S16. 

" Everything depends on the selection of your ministry. In 
every selection, party and party feeling should be avoided. 
Now is the time to exterminate that monster called party spirit. 
By selecting characters most conspicuous for their probity, 
virtue, capacity, and firmness, without any regard to party, you 



GENERAL JACKSON'S MONROE LETTERS. 65 

will go far to, if not entirely, eradicate those feelings which, on 
former occasions, threw so many obstacles in the way of gov- 
ernment; and perhaps have the pleasure and lionor of uniting a 
people heretofore politically divided. The chief magistrate of 
a great and powerful nation should never indulge in party feel- 
ings. His conduct should be liberal and disinterested, always 
bearing in mind that he acts for the zvhole and not a part of the 
community. By this course you will exalt the national^ character, 
and acquire iox yourself 2, name as imperishable as monumental 
marble. Consult no party in your choice; pursue the dictates 
of that unerring judgment which has so long and so often 
benefited our country, and rendered conspicuous its rulers. 
These are the sentiments of a friend ; they are the feelings, if I 
know my own heart, of an undissembled patriot. 

" Accept the assurances of my sincere friendship, and believe 
me to be respectfully your obedient servant, 

"Andrew Jackson. 

" The Hon. James Monroe." 

To this letter Mr. Monroe replied, reflecting somewhat upon 
the Federalists, saying that " the contest between the parties 
[Federal and Republican] never ceased, from its commence- 
ment to the present time ; nor do I think that it can be said 
now to have ceased." He, however, concurs in General Jack- 
son's declaration that " the chief magistrate ought not to be the 
head of a party," etc., but intimates that in selecting his cabinet 
the wishes of his own friends should be consulted. 

To this General Jackson rejoins in a third epistle, in which 
he fiercely denounces the Federalists, especially the Hartford 
Convention class, and declares that had he commanded the 
military department where the Hartford Convention met, if it 
had been the last act of his life, he would have punished the 
three principal leaders of the party. " I am certain," he says, 
" an independent court-martial would have condemned them, 
under the second section of the act establishing rules and regu- 
lations for the government of the army of the United States." 

On reading these letters after a lapse of fifty odd years, one 
cannot but wonder at the great sensation they produced, and 

5 



66 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

the influence they had upon the public mind. The declaration 
of General Jackson, however, that he would have punished, — 
hung or shot, — under the second section, the three principal 
leaders of the Hartford Convention, if it had been the last act 
of his life, was a bitter pill for his Federal friends. But it was 
swallowed with many wry faces, and excused as an ebullition 
of his impetuous temper. 

# 

THE PRESIDENTIAL CANVASS. A CALM BEFORE A STORM. — THE 

STORM COMMENCES. EXCITING TIMES. 

The Presidential canvass and election went on, in 1824, in 
the various States, in a very quiet manner generally, there 
being no parties arrayed against each other. The contest was 
between individuals who had all belonged to the Republican 
or Democratic party. The number of candidates, by the with- 
drawal of Mr. Calhoun from the contest, was reduced to four. 
The immediate personal friends of each took a warm interest 
for their respective favorites ; but this interest was confined to 
a comparatively few, no great principle or system of policy 
being at stake. 

But upon the assembling of Congress in December, the in- 
terest in the conflict rapidly increased among the friends of 
those who were striving to win the high prize. The popular 
vote had been cast, and, as was expected, no one had a majority 
of the whole, except Mr. Calhoun, as the candidate for Vice- 
President. 

The following were the votes cast for Mr. Adams : namely, 
Maine, 9; New Hampshire, 8; Vermont, 7; Massachusetts, 15; 
Connecticut, 8; Rhode Island, 4; New York, 26; Delaware, i; 
Maryland, 3; Louisiana, 2; Illinois, i. Total, 84. 

For General Jackson, the following : New York, i ; New 
Jersey, 8; Pennsylvania, 28; Maryland, 7; North Carolina, 15 ; 
South Carolina, 1 1 ; Tennessee, 1 1 ; Louisiana, 3 ; Mississippi, 
3 ; Alabama, 5 ; Indiana, 5 ; Illinois, 2. Total, 99. 

For Mr. Crawford: Georgia, 9; Virginia, 24; New York, 5 ; 
Maryland, i ; Delaware, 2. Total, 41. 

For Mr. Clay: Kentucky, 14; Ohio, 16; Missouri, 3; New 
York, 4. Total, 37. 



THE PRESIDENTIAL CANVASS. 



67 



The entire vote of North Carohna, 15, was cast for General 
Jackson, although Mr. Crawford had probably as many friends 
in the State as the general. 

Had the bill in the Legislature of New York passed, giving 
the election of electors to the people, the entire electoral vote of 
that State would have been given to Mr. Adams, — 36, — adding 
ten to his total, and making his vote 94, while it would have 
reduced General Jackson's to 98, and Mr. Crawford's to 36. 

In Maryland, the Jackson and Crawford men united against 
Mr. Adams, and the same took place in Delaware. Neither 
candidate having a majority of the whole number of votes cast, 
by the Constitution, it devolved upon the House of Represent- 
atives to choose a President from the three who had the highest 
popular vote, or votes, of Presidential electors. These were 
General Jackson, Mr. Adams, and Mr. Crawford. Mr. Cla)', 
having a lower number than the other three, was excluded from 
the list to be voted for; and instead of being voted for himself, 
it would become his duty to cast his vote for one of the three 
named. As his position was now most commanding, so it was 
one of great peril, politically, to himself. 

It may be stated here that had not the election of electors of 
President and Vice-President been, by design, unfairly brought 
on in the Legislature of Louisiana in the absence of two or 
three of Mr. Clay's friends, he would have received the live 
electoral votes of that State, which would have sent him to the 
House as one of the three highest candidates, instead of Mr. 
Crawford; in which event the very strong probability, almost 
amounting to a certainty, was that Mr. Clay would have been 
elected President instead of Mr. Adams. 

That his very elevated position at this time was a precipice 
from which he might be hurled with angry force so soon as he 
should have cast his vote, Mr. Clay was not unconscious, and 
he clearly foresaw that from being assiduously courted by certain 
sets of politicians, he was soon to become an object of the most 
rancorous calumny. 

The well-remembered plot concocted against Mr. Cla>-, in 
January, 1825, which had for its object either to compel him to 
vote for General Jackson, or utterly to destroy his influence as 



58 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

a public man, was conceived in malignity and brought forth in 
baseness. 

THE BEGINNING OF THE PLOT. — MR. CLAY CHARGED WITH BAR- 
GAIN AND INTRIGUE. 

The first intimation the public had that bargain and intrigue 
were going on at Washington, with a view to elect either candi- 
date who had been voted for by the people for President, was 
through the following letter, addressed, anonymously, to the 
" Columbian Observer," Philadelphia, the organ, as I have here- 
tofore shown, of General Jackson and his friends : 

"Washington, January 25, 1825. 
" Dear Sir, — I take up my pen to inform you of one of the 
most disgraceful transactions that ever covered with infamy the 
Republican ranks. Would you believe that men, professing 
democracy, could be found base enough to lay the axe at the 
very root of the tree of liberty ? Yet, strange as it is, it is not 
less true. To give you a full history of this transaction would 
far exceed the limits of a letter. I shall therefore at once pro- 
ceed to give you a brief account of such a bargain as can only 
be equaled by the famous Bnrr conspiracy of 1801. For some 
time past the friends of Clay have hinted that they, like the 
Swiss, would fight for those who pay best. Overtures were 
said to have been made by the friends of Adams to the friends 
of Clay, offering him the appointment of Secretary of State for 
his aid to elect Adams ; and the friends of Clay gave the informa- 
tion to the friends of Jackson, and hinted that if the friends of 
Jackson would offer the same price, they would close with 
them. But none of the friends of Jackson would descend to 
such mean barter and sale. It was not believed by any of the 
friends of Jackson that this contract would be ratified by the 
members from the States which had voted for Clay. I was of 
opinion, when I first heard of this transaction, that men pro- 
fessing any honorable principles could not, nor would not, be. 
transferred, like the planter does his negroes, or the farmer 
does his team of horses. No alarm was excited. We believed 
the republic was safe. The nation having delivered Jackson 



MR. CLA Y CHARGED WITH BARGAIN AND INTRIGUE. 



69 



into the hands of Congress, backed by a large majority of their 
votes, there was on my mind no doubt that Congress would 
respond to the will of the nation by electing the individual they 
had declared to be their choice. Contrary to this expectation, 
it is now ascertained to a certainty that Henry Clay has trans- 
ferred his interest to John Quincy Adams. As a consideration 
for this abandonment of duty to his constituents, it is said and 
believed, should this unholy coalition prevail, Clay is to be 
appointed Secretary of State. I have no fear on my mind. I 
am clearly of opinion we shall defeat every combination. The 
force of public opinion must prevail, or there is an end of 
liberty." 

Mr. Clay, in a public card, on the appearance of this calum- 
nious accusation, indignantly pronounced it a falsehood, and its 
author, whoever he was, " a ba.se and infamous calumniator, a 
dastard, and a liar." 

Mr. George Kremer, a member of Congress from Pennsyl- 
vania, thereupon, in "another card," referred Mr. Clay to the 
editor of the " Columbian Observer" for the name of the author, 
but declared that " in the mean time George Kremer holds 
himself ready to prove, to the satisfaction of unprejudiced 
minds, enough to satisfy them of the accuracy of the state- 
ments which are contained in that letter to the extent that they 
concern the course and conduct of ' H, Clay.' Being a repre- 
sentative of the people, he will not fear to ' cry aloud and spare 
not' when their rights and privileges are at stake." 

Before going further in developing this infamous plot, I 
must do "honest George Kremer" the justice to say that he 
was more fool than knave ; that he was the pliant tool with 
which to do the work of an arrant but cowardly set of knaves, 
instead of being himself the instigator of the plot. The compo- 
sition of the letter addressed to the "Columbian Observer" was 
convincing proof, to all who knew the simple-minded, illiterate 
man, that he never wrote it ; and the words, " that men profess- 
ing any honorable principles could not, nor would not, be 
transferred, like the p/anttv docs his negroes^' clearly prove that 
they were never written by a Pcmisylvanian, but were written 



70 



PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 



by a So?ithernc7\ Besides this internal evidence of the Southern 
paternity of the letter, Mr. Kremer told Mr. Crowningshield, a 
member of the House from Massachusetts, that he did not 
write the letter, and Mr. Brent, a member of the House from 
Louisiana, certified, in writing, that he " heard Mr. Kremer 
declare, at the fireplace in the lobby of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, in a manner and language which he believed sincere, 
that he never intended to charge Mr. Clay with corruption or 
dishonor in his intended vote for Mr. Adams as President; . . . 
that he was among the last men in the nation to make such a 
charge against Mr. Clay ; and that his letter was never intended 
to convey the idea given to it." 

Other members — Peter Little and Dudley Digges, of Mary-, 
land — heard and testified to the same statement of Mr. Kremer. 

This shows that George Kremer did not write the letter he 
was induced to father ; and if he sent it to the paper in which it 
appeared, he was evidently purposely deceived as to its purport. 

It is hardly susceptible of doubt that Major John H. Eaton, 
the biographer and bosom friend of General Jackson, a Senator 
in Congress, and one of the plotters against Mr. Clay, was 
the writer of the letter. In a subsequent correspondence be- 
tween Mr. Clay and Major Eaton, — commenced by the latter, 
— Mr. Clay said, " I did believe, from yotir nocturnal interview 
with Mr. Kremer, that you prepared or advised the publication 
of his card. I should be happy, by a disavowal on your part, 
... to know that I have been mistaken in supposing that you 
had any agency in the composition and publication of that 
card." To which Mr. Eaton replied, "You will excuse me 
from making an attempt to remove any belief which you enter- 
tain upon this subject. It is a matter which gives me no con- 
cern. . . . Suppose I did visit him; . . . that it was ... 'a 
noctttrnal v\s\i\' was there anything existing that should have 
denied me this privilege?" 

Major Eaton might feel very indignant at Mr. Clay's charge; 
but he could not deny its truth, nor escape its infamy. 

Upon the appearance, in the " National Intelligencer," of 
Mr. Kremer's " card," virtually assuming the authorship of the 
anonymous letter making the charge of " bargain and in- 



jUJ?. clay charged with bargain axd intrigue, yi 

TRIGUE," and declaring himself ready to prove the statements 
in that letter, Mr. Clay at once brought the matter to the notice 
of the House, over which he presided. " These charges," he 
said, " implicated his conduct in regard to the pending Presi- 
dential election. ... If they were true, jf he were capable and 
base enough to betray the solemn trust which the Constitution 
had confided to him, . . . the House would be scandalized by 
his continuing to occupy the chair with which he had been 
so long honored in presiding at its deliberations, and merited 
instantaneous expulsion. ... He anxiously hoped that the 
House would be pleased to order an investigation to be made 
into the truth of the charges." 

Mr. Forsyth, of Georgia, thereupon moved a resolution, which 
was, after some modification, passed, as follows : 

" Resolved, That the communication made by the Speaker to 
the House, and entered on the journal of the House, be referred 
to a select committee." 

One would naturally suppose that upon the earnest request 
of Mr. Clay, " that the House would be pleased to order an 
investigation into the truth of the charges" so boldly made, 
and the truth of which Mr. Kremer declared himself ready to 
prove, the resolution offered by Mr. Forsyth would have passed 
the House without a negative vote ; but an investigation into 
the truth of this infamous charge was just what the " plotters" 
did not zvant : they knew it to be false ; but to have it declared 
by a select committee of the House to be destitute of truth, and 
the author a calumniator, would spoil their plot. Accordingly, 
a very warm debate arose upon Mr. Forsyth's resolution, which 
occupied a day and a half It was finally passed. The com- 
mittee consisted of seven, not one of whom was the political 
friend of Mr. Clay. 

In the course of this debate, Mr. Forsyth said, — 

" If the charge is a true one, has not the bargain been made ? 
And if it has, is it not corruption ? And what then ? It ought 
to be punished. Has not this House power not merely to repri- 
mand, but to expel, any one of its members who shall have 
dared to be guilty of such conduct? If, on the contrar\-, it 
shall appear that any member of this House, governed by mere 



72 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



rumors, and under the influence of jealousy or mere surmises, 
shall have presumed to hold up as an infamous bargainer, as a 
contractor for votes and influence, a member or an officer of 
this House, will it be contended that we have no power to 
punish him ? . . . 

" If the charge is made, it ought to be investigated. If it 
is true, the member charged ought to be expelled from this 
House. If it is not true, the slanderer ought to be punished." 

Mr. J. C. Wright, of Ohio, said, " We are told, sir, with this 
charge before us, that no offense is imputed ; that all rests on 
rumors, — nothing affecting, in the slightest degree, the dignity 
of this House ! that your presiding officer corruptly selling his 
own vote and those of his fellow-members is no offense to the 
dignity of the House ! that no ulterior measures can grow out 
of such a charge, if true ! and that it is beneath our dignity to 
notice such vague rumors ! Sir, will you go to the election of 
a chief magistrate while corruption fills your halls and seeks to 
find its way into your ballot-boxes ?" . . . 

"Will any one," said Mr. Storrs, "undertake to convince this 
House that if its presiding officer should be convicted of theft 
(if I may suppose a case so offensive) we have not the power 
to dethrone him from the seat which he had thus dishonored ? 
If he is charged with bribery, and the mean barter and sale of 
his vote as a member, is it an offense less involving the purity 
of the place ? If the charge were proved, is there one among 
us who would not feel degraded in the occupation of these 
seats?" . . . 

Unwilling, however, as the Jackson men were that an inves- 
tigation should take place, lest the charge should prove to be, 
as they knew it was, a groundless calumny, they dared not set 
public opinion at defiance by refusing to appoint a committee 
charged '^ith the duty of investigating the matter. The reso- 
lution was therefore passed and the committee appointed. And 
now, where is Mr. Kremer and his proofs? Does he come for- 
ward to sustain his charge ? Quite otherwise. Having been 
notified to produce his proofs, he addressed a long commu- 
nication to the committee, from which the following are brief 
extracts : 



MR. CLAY CHARGED WITH BARGAIN AND INTRIGUE, n-y 

" Gentlemen, — I have received your note of yesterday, in 
which you inform me that you will meet at ten o'clock this 
morning, and will there be ready to receive any evidence or 
explanation I may have to offer touching the charges referred 
to in the communication of the Speaker of the 3d instant. . . . 
I can discover no authority by which the House can assume 
jurisdiction of the case. . . . 

" Nor can I be ignorant of the fact that this body, thus un- 
limited in its rules and in the extent of its powers, is at all times, 
but more especially at a crisis like the present, subject, by its 
very constitution and the nature of its functions, to be acted 
upon by some of the most powerful passions that actuate the 
human breast, which unfit it to perform, in that cool and de- 
liberate manner, the duties which properly belong to a court 
and jury. If it should be considered as proper that members 
be held responsible here for the communication of their 
opinions out of the House, on public men and public affairs, it 
would be much more safe that they should be placed at once 
under the operation of the sedition lazv ; and so far as the mem- 
bers of this House are concerned, the repeal of that famous law 
might be considered as a calamity rather than a blessing. Thus 
regarding the constitutional power of the House, and the nature 
of that which is proposed to be exercised in my case, I have 
determined, under a deep sense of duty to myself and my con- 
stituents, not to submit to a procedure fraught with such dan- 
gerous consequences." 

And so " honest George Kremer," who was so ready to 
prove the charge he had made, and with patriotic fervor to " cry 
aloud and spare not," when put to the test ignominiously backs 
out, and as a subterfuge denies the authority of the House to 
take cognizance of the matter, intimating that such a tribunal 
would exercise power in a very dangerous and arbitrary 
manner, " acted upon by some of the most powerful passions 
that actuate the human breast," under which it would be 
" unfit to perform, in that cool and deliberate manner, the 
duties which properly belong to a cottrt and jiirf! 

The entire communication is worthy the plotters who con- 
cocted it for Mr. Kremer ; for — poor soul, or poor dupe — every- 



74 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



body knew he had no liand in writing it. They had made a 
charge they dared not meet, and therefore must find a way of 
evading the call for proof In doing this, they endeavored to 
put Mr. Kremer on the stilts of patriotism ; he must protest 
against the jurisdiction of a "star-chamber court;" he must 
show the awful consequences that would result from submitting 
to such a tribunal, and bring in, for effect, the ''sedition law',' 
though it had no more to do with the case than the laws of 
Draco; he must assume a dramatic air of patriotism, defy the 
committee, and stand upon his dignity ! 

And the committee — what action did they take ? Why, in- 
stead of reporting to the House that the charge had not been 
proved, that the accuser had failed to appear, and therefore the 
House must consider the charge a false accusation, and the 
Speaker's character unimpugned, they close their report by say- 
ing, — which is the gist of the whole of it, — " they have felt it to 
be their duty only to lay before the House the communication 
(Mr. Kremer's) which they have received." Most lame and 
impotent conclusion ! 

So ended, in a fiasco, the investigation by the House of this 
charge of "bargain and intrigue;" thus keeping it alive for 
future use. And great use, indeed, was made of it, so long 
as Mr. Clay was alive and likely to be a candidate before the 
people. 

The subject will come up again when General Jackson shall 
have publicly made the charge against Mr. Clay of having 
attempted to make a bargain with him in regard to the Presi- 
dency, or of sending an emissary to him. 

The very warm debate, which occupied a day and a half, on 
Mr. Forsyth's resolution tended to draw a line between those 
who had always before belonged to the same party, — to separate 
the friends of Adams from the friends of Jackson. It was the 
beginning of new parties, not yet fully developed, but to become 
as inveterately hostile to each other, in time, as the old Federal 
and Republican parties ever were. 



MR. ADAMS ELECTED PRESIDENT. 



75 



ELECTION OF PRESIDENT BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

MR. ADAMS ELECTED. 

The election of President by the House of Representatives 
took place in the Representative hall, on the 9th of February, 
1825, in the presence of the Senate of the United States. It 
was a solemn occasion, and all felt it to be so. Every member 
of the House seemed to feel the responsibility of his position, 
— that the fate of the nation depended on his individual vote. 

The members were called by States, and took their seats, 
each delegation sitting together, by itself After being thus 
called and seated, the Senate came in and occupied seats pre- 
pared for them, the Vice-President presiding, and occupying 
the chair of the Speaker. Every voice was hushed ; oppressive 
silence prevailed. The galleries were crowded with anxious 
spectators, the ladies being largely represented. 

It was not generally expected that a choice would be made 
on the first ballot, though three or four members only had 
reason to believe this would be the case. It was necessary to 
an election that one of the three candidates to be voted for 
should obtain the votes of a majority of the States, — the votes 
being given by States, each State, large or small, casting but 
one vote. 

It was not expected that New York would be able to cast 
her vote on the first ballot, as the members were divided, some 
intending to vote for Mr. Adams, some for Mr. Crawford, and 
a few, it was known, preferring General Jackson. It was not 
believed that either candidate could count on a majority of the 
members from that State on the first ballot. The vote of Louisi- 
ana was also uncertain. Mr. Brent, it was known, would vote 
for Mr. Adams ; Mr. Livingston for General Jackson; while Mr. 
Gurley, the other member from that State, declared that he 
would cast his vote for Mr. Adams or for General Jackson, as 
the case might be, whenever by voting for the one or the other 
an election could be accomplished. 

The balloting commenced, and proceeded in a very impress- 
ive manner. Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont, 
Connecticut, were severally called, and the individual member 
appointed for the purpose by the delegation of the State handed 



^5 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

to the tellers the vote of the State, which was declared aloud 
by the presiding officer, and held up, written in large charac- 
ters, so that the whole House could see it. 

At length it came to New York : her name being called, the 
vote was handed in, proclaimed by the Vice-President, and held 
aloft for all to see. New York cast her vote for John Quincy 
Adams. The surprise was as great as the relief from dubious 
anxiety. Everybody drew a long breath, as if relieved from 
oppressive doubt and apprehension. It was now known that 
the vote of Louisiana would be cast for Mr. Adams, because, 
by its being so cast, an election would take place. Of course 
all uncertainty was now removed : Mr. Adams, it was known, 
would be elected. The voting proceeded to the end with less 
restraint. The result is known. 

But how did it happen that an election took place on the 
first ballot, so contrary to general expectation? This question 
I am enabled to answer by communications made to me by 
General Dudley Marvin, a member of the House at that time 
from the Canandaigua district. New York, and by Colonel 
John Taliaferro (pronounced Toliver), a member of the same 
body from Virginia. 

General Marvin stated that of the New York delegation 
two, at least, were favorable to General Jackson, or desired to 
cast one vote for him ; but, not expecting an election to take 
place on the first ballot, they both intended, and so stated to 
him, to vote for Mr. Adams on the second ballot, by which the 
vote of the State would be cast for him. 

Meantime, General Marvin, as he informed me, discovered 
that Mr. Van Buren had got many Crawford men to agree 
to unite with the Crawford men of New York to vote for Mr. 
Adams on the second ballot, which would result in electing 
Mr. Adams by a large majority, — a result for which the Craw- 
ford men, and Mr. Van Buren as their file-leader, would claim 
the credit, and, of course, the reward from Mr. Adams, in 
appointments and influence. 

Having ascertained that such an understanding had been 
entered into by the friends of Mr. Crawford, — an arrangement 
which, if successful, would make Mr. Van Buren the Warwick 



MR. ADAMS ELECTED PRESIDENT. jj 

of the day, or " master of the situation," — and knowing the 
political antagonism between Mr. Van Buren and these two 
members, namely, General Stephen Van Rensselaer, of Albany, 
and Parmenio Adams, of Batavia, he (General Marvin) lost 
no time in acquainting them with the arrangement he had 
discovered, and referred them to others, from whom they 
could obtain further information. 

That such an arrangement had been entered into, these gen- 
tlemen both became satisfied ; whereupon, to prevent Mr. Van 
Buren from claiming the credit of having made Mr. Adams 
President, they came to the resolution of voting for Mr. Adams 
on the first ballot, and thus electing him on that ballot. Thus 
it was accomplished, and thus was Mr. Van Buren balked. 

Some twenty years after. General Marvin related to me the 
facts I have here stated. I became personally acquainted with 
Colonel Taliaferro, and availed myself of an opportunity to 
relate to him the facts communicated by General Marvin, and 
asked him if he knew whether any such arrangement had been 
entered into by the Crawford men. He said there was a general 
understanding among the friends of Crawford, of whom he was 
one, that they would give Mr. Crawford a complimentary vote 
on the first ballot, and then, on the second, cast their votes for 
Mr. Adams. " I know," said he, " of my own knowledge, that 
eighteen of the twenty-two votes from Virginia were to be given 
to Mr. Adams on the second ballot, had there been no election 
on the first, as it was supposed there would not be." 

" All these eighteen were Jeffersonian Republicans," said 
Colonel Taliaferro; "and among them were P. P. Barbour, 
Andrew Stevenson, William C. Rives, and William S. Archer. 
New York," continued Colonel Taliaferro, " was very much 
under the lead of Mr. Van Buren, whom I often heard abuse 
General Jackson, as did his organ, the 'Albany Argus.' John 
Forsyth would not hold social intercourse with General Jack- 
son or his prominent friends, and Benton held him in utter 
detestation." 

Mr. Brent and Mr. Gurley, members from Louisiana, both 
addressed letters to their friends in that State on the day the 
election of Mr. Adams took place, announcing the fact, and 



jS PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

Stating that " General Jackson could not have been elected 
under any circumstances." "Had the friends of Mr. Crawford 
abandoned him," said Mr. Brent, " they would have gone to 
Mr. Adams, which would have swollen his vote to eighteen" 
States. This corroborates the statement of Colonel Taliaferro. 
As it was, Mr. Adams had the votes of thirteen States ; General 
Jackson, seven ; and Mr. Crawford, four.* 

It may be interesting to inquire what would have been the 
history of Mr. Adams's administration, and of subsequent polit- 
ical parties, had not Mr. Van Buren's nice little arrangement 
been frustrated, and if lie had had the credit of effecting that 
result. It would have committed the friends of Mr. Crawford, 
who constituted " the Democratic party" par excellence, to Mr. 
Adams, and secured their support of his administration. It 
would have prevented them from uniting with the friends of 
General Jackson, who at this time was no favorite with them 
and was vigorously assailed by all the leading presses of that 
party.f 

* Since the above was written, I have found tlie following editorial in " Niles's 
Register," vol. xlii. p. 324, copied from the " New York Courier and Inquirer," the 
editor then being a decided Jackson man : 

" The fact no longer should be concealed that if Mr. Clay had not on the first 
ballot decided the election of Mr. Adams, he would have been elected on the 
second ballot by the very men who now sustain the money-changers. We dare 
Mr. Cambreleng to deny it. We dare the ' Argus' to deny their avowal at the 
time, that they preferred Mr. Adams to General Jackson. We dare the 'Argus' to 
deny that he preferred having Mr. Rochester, an Adams man, for Governor than a 
friend of Andrew Jackson. We dare him to deny that he denounced the editor of 
the ' Inquirer' bitterly for preferring a friend to Jackson." 

•j- Mr. Van Buren, it is well known, was a very cautious politician, seldom com- 
mitting himself in willing; but lie had in a letter to Colonel John Williams, United 
States Senator from Tennessee, spoken in disparaging terms of General Jackson as a 
candidate for President. Some years after, when he (Mr. Van Buren) was Secretary 
of State under General Jackson, in conversing with the Hon. Joseph L. Williams, 
son of his I'riend Colonel John, he took occasion to speak in very eulogistic terms 
of General Jackson ; whereupon Mr. Williams reminded him of the fact that he 
(Mr. Van Buren) had changed his mind, as there was a time when he held a 
vei-y different opinion of the general. On this remark being made, Mr. Williams 
— from whom I had the anecdote — said Mr. Van Buren looked surprised and in- 
quisitive. Mr. Williams went on to say to Mr. Van Buren that, as the executor 
of his father, he had possession of all his correspondence, and among his letters 
he found some from him, Mr. Van Buren, in one of which he had spoken of Gen- 



MR. ADAMS ELECTED PRESIDENT. ng 

eral Jackson, of whom he evidently had then quite a different estimation from that 
wliich he now expressed. " For once," said Mr. Williams, "Mr. Van Biueu was 
dumfounded ; he made no reply, but appeared to he most uncomfortable." After 
enjoying his anxiety for a short time, Mr. Williams said he remarked that his letters, 
having been written in the confidence of private friendship, would be held sacred 
by him. Mr. Van Buren, he said, was prodigiously relieved by this assurance, and 
became very generous in offers of public positions at his disposal, no one of which 
he would accept, as he was not a friend of the administration. 

No wonder Mr. Van Buren felt anxious, and even alarmed, well knowing that 
he could reach the great object of his ambition only by General Jackson's aid, 
and that he could no longer look for that should it come out that he had ever 
spoken disparagingly of him, as was shown in General Jackson's quarrel with 
Mr. Calhoun. 



CHAPTER II. 

Mr. Adams forms his Cabinet ; Mr. Clay Secretaiy of State. — General Jackson ; his 
Journey Home; charges Corruption against Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay. — Arrival 
of Lafayette, the " Nation's Guest." — His Tour tlirough the United States. — Is 
f^ted at Washington by the House of Representatives. — He is sent Home in the 
Frigate Brandywine. — The Beginning of a Storm in Georgia. — Completion of 
the Erie Canal. — Celebration of the Event. — De Witt Clinton. — A Political Calm. 
— General Jackson resigns his Seat in the Senate. — His Letter to the 'Legislature 
of Tennessee. — Governor Troup and the Legislature of Georgia terribly excited ; 
they " stand by their Arms." — The Opposition Party formed. — Scene between 
Colonel R. M.Johnson and Colonel Seaton. — The " Telegraph" Paper estab- 
lished. — Violent and Calumnious Character of the Opposition. — The War opened 
upon the Administration upon the Panama Question. — Mr. McDuffie's Reso- 
lutions to amend the Constitution. — Fierce and Vindictive Debate thereon. — He 
endeavors to provoke a Challenge from General Vance. — Duel between Mr. 
Randolph and Mr. Clay. — John Randolph.— How Mr. Clay came to be elected 
Speaker on the Fir.st Day he entered the House as a Member. — Deaths of Adams 
and Jefferson. — The Cry of" Retrenchment and Reform" clamorously raised, — 
The famous East Room Letter. — " The gorgeously furni.shed East Room." — 
Georgia and the Creek Controversy. — Sharp Epistolary Skirmish between Gen- 
eral Gaines and Governor Troup. — The Jackson Party gain the Ascendency in 
the House of Representatives. — Mr. McDuffie challenges Governor Metcalf, but 
will not fight with Rifles. — No Duel. — Abduction of William Morgan. — For- 
mation of the Anti-Masonic Party. — General Jackson charges Mr. Adams and 
Mr. Clay with " Bargain and Corruption" at his Own Table. — Carter Beverly's 
Letter. — Mr. Clay's Denial. — Demands the Name of the Witness. — General 
Jackson replies, and gives the Name of James Buchanan as his Author. — Mr. 
Buchanan's Half-and-Half Letter in Response. — Mr. Adams's Solemn Denial of 
the Truth of the Charge. — Agitation of the Protective Policy. — Meetings and 
Conventions North and South. — Language of the South. — General Convention 
at Harrisburg. — Nullification first heard of. — Suggested by Colonel Hamilton, 
of South Carolina. — His Liflammatory Language. — Election of Governor and 
Lieutenant-Governor of New York. — Mr. Van Buren elected Governor by the 
aid of the Anti-Masons. — Presidential Election in 1828. — General Jackson 
elected. — A Winter in Washington, 1828-9. — Mrs. Eaton. — " Bellona." — 
Tempest in a Teapot. — Mrs. General Porter. — General Jackson arrives at 
Washington. — Declines to pay the Customary Visit of Respect to the President. 
— A Great Multitude of Ofiice-Seekers rush to Washington. — Editors by the 
Score. — Calhoun Heir- Apparent. — A Spicy Debate in the House. — Procla- 
mation ; Braggadocio Smythe. — Mr. Adams's Last Levee. — General Anxiety of 
Heads of Bureaus and Clerks on account of Threats of Sweeping Removals. 
80 



MR. ADAMS PRESIDENT. gj 



MR. ADAMS PRESIDENT. GENERAL JACKSON AGAIN NOMINATED 

FOR PRESIDENT. 

The great excitement which preceded the election of Presi- 
dent immediately died away upon the consummation of that 
event, and a calm, apparent at least, succeeded for a time. 
True, the very ardent friends of General Jackson immediately 
nominated him for election four years subsequently, and talked 
of his being cheated out of his election; taking the singular 
ground that, as he had been returned to the House with the 
highest electoral vote of the three, the House ought to have 
elected him, — that he was entitled to it. If this proposition 
were true, the House had no discretion in the matter, and an 
election by that body of one of the three candidates having the 
highest number of electoral votes, but neither candidate a ma- 
jority of the whole number, if their choice Diust fall u])on tlie 
one having the highest number of the three, would be a farce. 
This argument found no favor with the country at this time. 
He was, personally, on the most friendly terms with all the 
rival candidates, though his relations with Mr. Clay were less 
cordial than with either of the others. 

Mr. Adams had most ably and successfully defended General 
Jackson for entering Florida at the head of his army and taking 
St. Mark's and Pensacola, — a service no other man could so 
successfully have done when complaint was made of this by the 
Spanish government, and he justified his course in Mr. Monroe's 
cabinet, when the President and all the other members of the 
cabinet disapproved it. General Jackson was therefore under 
the deepest obligations to him. We have seen, moreover, that 
General Jackson was treated with distinguished consideration 
by Mr. and Mrs. Adams, who gave a large and well-remembered 
party in honor of him on the 8th of January, 1824. 

Mr. Adams and Mr, Crawford, and their respective families,, 
were on terms of the most friendly cordiality, the latter taking 
occasion to say, in 1824, that by Mr. Adams and his family he 
had been treated with the utmost kindness, especially during 
his long illness, for which he expressed himself most grateful. 

At this time — February, 1825 — I\Ir. Crawford's broken con- 

6 



82 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

stitution not permitting him to remain longer in public life, 
even if he were disposed to do so, he was preparing to return 
to his home in Georgia and to private life, after a long period 
of faithful service in various high public stations, impaired in 
health and disappointed in his aspirations. But for the attack 
of paralysis which struck him down some eight or nine months 
previous to the Presidential election, it is probable he would 
have been elected instead of Mr. Adams. It is well known 
that Mr. Clay was, and had long been, much devoted to him, 
and there can be little doubt that most of the Western and 
New York members, who went with him for Mr. Adams, had 
Mr. Crawford's health not been impaired, would have voted 
for the latter. But, like many other eminent men who have 
aspired to that high position, he was destined never to be 
President of the United States. 

WILLIAM H. CRAWFORD. 

Mr. Crawford was a truly great man. His name stands 
among those of the most eminent of our statesmen, and long 
will his memory be cherished by those who know how to value 
great intellect, purity of character, and faithful public services. 
From his entrance into the Senate of the United States, he was 
the political Mentor of that galaxy of young men who then 
appeared in Congress and soon became eminent as statesmen 
and orators. Among these were Mr. Clay, Mr. Forsyth, Mr. 
Lowndes, Louis McLane, Thomas W. Cobb, George M. Troup, 
Philip Doddridge, James Barbour, Andrew Stevenson, and 
others, chiefly from the South and West. John Randolph and 
Nathaniel Macon, whose names were for many long years upon 
the rolls of Congress, were his contemporaries and life-long 
devoted friends. 

He was a man of commanding presence ; tall, large-framed, 
sedate, but with an agreeable expression ; and the outer corre- 
sponded with the inner man, — both inviting confidence, but 
repelling familiarity. 

For a short time he represented this country at the court of 
Napoleon, having for his colleague Chancellor Livingston, of 
New York. He could not speak French, and Mr. Livingston 



JACKSON AND ADAMS. g^ 

was very deaf — which drew from Napoleon the witty remark 
that the United States government had sent a deaf and dumb 
embassy to negotiate with him. 

Soon after the Presidential election he returned to Gcorfjia 
and never again appeared in public life, except that as a means 
of support, he being poor, his friends in that State elected 
him to the office of Judge of Probate, or of some inferior court, 
which he held till his death, a few years later. 

General Jackson was still in Washington, a member of the 
Senate, and apparently in a very amiable mood; at least utter- 
ing no complaint as to the result of the election. On the loth 
of February, the day after the election, the general was invited 
to partake of a public dinner. He declined the invitation, and 
in his letter, alluding to the recent election, he said, "Any 
evidence of kindness and regard such as you propose might, 
by many, be viewed as conveying with it exception', murmur- 
ings, and feelings of complaint, which I sincerely hope belong 
TO none of my friends." 

Had he believed that the election of INIr. Adams had been 
accomplished, and his own prevented, by a corrupt "bargain," is 
it likely that he would, the next day, have declined a public mani- 
festation of regard for himself, lest it might imply an exception 
on his part against the result of the election so brought about, 
and earnestly deprecate on the part of his friends any " mur- 
murings" or feeling of dissatisfaction ? Besides, immediately 
on Mr. Adams being inaugurated, the general stepped forward, 
tendered him his hand, and in the most cordial manner con- 
gratulated him on his election.* Was General Jackson then 
playing the hypocrite, by expressing feelings he did not enter- 
tain, or did he rather feel no chagrin, not believing he had any 
cause for other than friendly feelings towards Mr. Adams? 

* Giving an account of Mr. Adams's inauguration, the editor of the " National 
Intelligencer" said, " The meeting between him [Mr. Adams] and his venerated 
predecessor had in it something peculiarly affecting. General Jackson, we were 
pleased to observe, was among the earliest of those who took the hand of the 
President, and their looks and deportment towards each other were a rebuke to 
that littleness of party spirit which can see no merit in a rival and feel no joy in 
the honor of a competitor." 



S4 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



Had he believed he had been defrauded out of an election, can 
any one suppose he would have been the first (after Mr. Monroe) 
to tender his hand and congratulations to Mr. Adams? By 
no means. It would seem that whatever stories about Mr. 
Adams's friends making " overtures" to Mr. Clay had been 
brought to him by Mr. Buchanan, he had put no faith in them, 
considering them the idle rumors of the day, of which the 
atmosphere was full. 

There was a calm again in politics. The atmosphere at 
Washington, and, indeed, over the whole country, was serene 
as a summer's morning. Not a cloud was to be seen, — no 
mutterings heard. People congratulated themselves that " the 
era of good feeling" — which expression had been used to char- 
acterize Mr. Monroe's Presidential term — was to continue, and 
universal harmony prevail. 

Mr. Adams soon formed his cabinet, which was thus con- 
stituted : Henry Clay, Secretary of State ; Richard Rush, 
Secretary of the Treasury ; James Barbour, Secretary of 
War; Samuel L. Southard (continued), Secretary of the Navy; 
William Wirt (continued), Attorney-General. John McLean, 
Postmaster-General under Mr. Monroe, appointed in 1822, 
continued to fill the same office — not then a cabinet office — 
during the whole of Mr. Adams's term. -^ 

These gentlemen had, each and all, belonged to the Repub- 
lican or Democratic party, or that party represented by Mr. 
Jefferson, Mr. Madison, and ]\Ir. Monroe, so that there was no 
change of parties by the election of Mr. Adams. He himself 
had held the highest stations, save that of President, both at 
home and abroad, under each of these Presidents, with whose 
administrations he was identified and in perfect accord. 

He was at this time considered by the American people the 
ablest, best trained, and most experienced diplomatist and 
statesman in the nation. As a diplomatist, indeed, he had no 
superior in Europe. His knowledge of the laws of nations, and 
of the public affairs and policy of every great power in Europe, 
seemed to be inexhaustible, and his pen to be driven by the 
force of steam. Residing with his father when a boy at Ver- 
sailles and other European courts, where he attended school, 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. g" 

he acquired, so as to speak as familiarly as his mother-tongue, 
several modern languages, among which were the French and 
Russian. 

A member of the United States Senate in 1806 (where he 
first met Mr. Clay), he resigned in 1808, in consequence of a 
disagreement with his party — the Federal — in regard to some of 
Mr. Jefferson's measures. Shortly after this he was appointed 
professor of rhetoric in Harvard University, and delivered a 
course of lectures upon that subject, which were published, and 
for many years used in colleges in preference to Blair's ; but, 
like other things of that day, they have passed away and are 
forgotten. 

But Mr. Adams was soon drawn from this sphere, which was 
clearly not his proper element, to one more congenial and be- 
fitting his education and peculiar cast of mind, by Mr. Jefferson, 
by whom he was appointed, in 1809, minister to Russia. 

He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one, but was more 
especially a diplomatist and statesman ; and it was as such that 
he was supported for the Presidency. 

At the period of which I am speaking, and previously, the 
usages and customs of the people in electing Presidents, Gover- 
nors, Senators, members of Congress, etc., were very different in 
the Eastern, Northern, and Middle States from what they are 
now and have been for thirty years past. Candidates for these 
high positions, and, indeed, for all other elective offices, were 
brought very little in contact with the voters. Such a thing as 
a public political meeting addressed b}'the candidates for office 
and their friends was unknown. It was considered discreditable, 
indeed, for any candidate to solicit support, or to appear to seek 
the office for which he was proposed. The theory was that the 
fittest man for the place would be sought by the people, and it 
did not become any one to thrust himself forward uncalled for. 

But the practice at the South and West was always different. 
There the candidates appeared before the people, whom they 
respectively addressed, and whose favor they sought to win. 
Two results grew out of this usage. First, it accustomed and 
trained men to speak in public and to carry on a debate with 
their opponents, thus preparing them to become orators and 



86 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 

debaters in legislative halls and in Congress. Second, it brought 
the candidates into personal contact and association with the 
electors ; each soon knew the other, and their relations were 
of a more personal and friendly character than they otherwise 
would have been. Hence it was that almost every member of 
Congress from the South and West was an off-hand, ready 
speaker, while very few from the North, comparatively, could 
participate in a running debate or address the house for two or 
three hours in an extempore speech. This art has been more 
cultivated at the North since the memorable Presidential con- 
test of 1840 than it formerly was; and the custom now prevails 
there, as it does in every other part of the Union, of candidates 
addressing the people at public meetings. 

MR. CLAY SECRETARY OF STATE. 

The charge of " bargain and corruption," calumnious as it 
was and utterly destitute of truth, embarrassed both Mr. Clay 
and Mr. Adams ; but they acted, nevertheless, as men will act 
who are conscious of the rectitude of their actions and the 
purity of their motives, trusting to the intelligence and discern- 
ment of the American people for a verdict of" not guilty of the 
charge," and a denunciation of it as a base slander. 

The " charge" was cunningly devised. It was a stratagem 
to head off or destroy Mr. Clay. Its first purpose was to 
deter him from voting for Mr. Adams; this failing, its next 
was to kill him off, politically. If he did not vote for Mr. 
Adams their first and great object would be gained, — General 
Jackson would be elected President. If he did vote for Mr. 
Adams, and elect him, it would be alleged that the truth of the 
" charge" had been proved. If he were appointed Secretary of 
State, and accepted the ofifice, it would be " proof strong as holy 
writ" of the truth of the " charge." In a private letter to his 
friend Judge Brooke, of Richmond, Virginia, dated February 
3, 1825, Mr. Clay, speaking of the acceptance of the office ten- 
dered to him by Mr. Adams, says, " It was urged [by his friends] 
that whether I accepted or declined the office I should not 
escape animadversion ; that in the latter contingency it would 
be said that the patriotic Mr. Kremer, by an exposure of the 



GENERAL JACKSON ON HIS JOURNEY HOME. 87 

corrupt arrangement, had prevented its consummation ; that the 
very object of propagating the calumny would be accomplished ; 
. . that I ought not to give the weight of a feather to the 
Kremer affair. . . ." He states that those of his friends who 
were at first averse to his accepting the office changed their 
opinion and advised it. Mr. Adams's friends in New England 
were unanimous and urgent that he should accept. He further 
states that several of Mr. Crawford's friends — Mr. McLane, of 
Delaware, Mr. Forsyth, of Georgia, Mr. Mangum, of North 
Carolina, and also some of General Jackson's friends in Penn- 
sylvania, expressed to him their strong convictions that he 
ought to accept. 

Such were the reasons which induced Mr. Clay's acceptance 
of the office of Secretary of State, against his own convictions 
and inclinations. But in doing so he made the great political 
mistake- of his life, and one which forever barred him from the 
Presidential seat. 

GENERAL JACKSON ON HIS JOURNEY HOME. 

\Vc have seen nothing, as yet, indicating that General Jack- 
son considered himself wronged by the election of Mr. Adams, 
or that he was in bad humor in regard to the result. He had 
shown no ill feeling, but, on the contrary, had been the first, 
after Mr. Monroe, to tender his hand to and congratulate Mr. 
Adams on his election. How could he do that, unless he were 
playing the hypocrite, if he believed Mr. Adams had been 
elected by corrupt and disreputable means? And if he had 
the proofs that Mr. Clay had bargained with Mr. Adams that 
in consideration that Mr. Clay should effect the election of Mr. 
Adams the latter would appoint him Secretary of State, why 
did he not present the charge to the Senate when Mr. Clay's 
nomination was before that body ? True, he voted with John 
Randolph, Major Eaton, Colonel Hayne, and others, fifteen in 
all, against the confirmation ; but no accusation was brought 
against Mr. Clay by any one. 

Soon after the cabinet was formed and the Senate adjourned, 
General Jackson took his departure from Washington for his 
home, near Nashville, via Wheeling and Cincinnati ; and now we 



88 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

find him scattering accusations all along his way, wherever he 
stopped, against Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay, but especially the 
latter, which indicated a most rancorous feeling. He had said 
nothing of the kind in Washington; but a letter dated Febru- 
ary 14, 1825, which he wrote in haste from there to his confi- 
dential friend Mr. Lewis, and which was afterwards published, 
is evidence that the calm demeanor which he manifested while 
there was only assumed ; that quite in contrast with this were 
the implacable passions then burning in his breast towards Mr, 
Clay. Wherever he happened to be, or whoever, and in what- 
ever numbers, were present, he spoke with the utmost freedom, 
and charged that "there was cheating, and corruption, and 
bribery going on" in the election at Washington, and declared 
that " if lie would have made the same promises and offers to 
Mr. Clay that Mr. Adams had done, he would have been in the 
Presidential chair. But he would make no promises to any one; 
if he went into the Presidential chair he would go with clean 
hands and uncontrolled by any one." 

In conversation with the Rev. A. Wylie, a clergyman of much 
distinction, when asked if a proposition had been made to him in 
regard to the Presidency, he replied, " Yes ; such a proposition 
was made. I said to the bearer, ' Go tell Mr. Clay, tell Mr. 
Adams, if I go into that chair I go with clean hands and a 
pure heart, and that I had rather see them, together with my- 
self, engulfed to the earth's centre, than to compass it by such 
means.' The very next day, or shortly after, Mr. Clay and his 
friends declared for Mr. Adams," 

He further declared that "the people, in the late election, had 
been cheated ; that corruptions and intrigues at Washington 
had defeated the will of the people in the election of their Presi- 
dent." He said that the tender of the office of Secretary of 
State to Mr. Clay and its acceptance by him "was a proof of 
the bargain, and a fulfillment of the prediction of honest 
George Kremer." 

It is a matter of astonishment that none of these broad, 
calumnious charges, made at public hotels, at the way-side, and 
on board of steamboats, did not reach the ears of Mr. Clay or 
find their way into the public papers. It would be otherwise 



VISIT OF LAFAYETTE. 



89 



at this day. Of course they could not be contradicted, as they 
were unknown ; and, remaining uncontradicted, they had their 
effect in poisoning the pubHc mind against Mr. Clay and Mr. 
Adams. The most that I have quoted as coming from General 
Jackson was uttered on board the steamer " General Neville," on 
which he took passage from Wheeling to Cincinnati, and which 
was crowded with passengers. 

Such false and calumnious charges against men in every 
respect as eminent, as worthy of public esteem, as incorruptible, 
and as patriotic as himself, were disreputable, and unworthy 
of his lofty position before the world. They were the out- 
pourings of disappointed ambition, and the overflowings of a 
heart charged with gall and bitterness. He was making a 
boast of his own incorruptibility while accusing others of cor- 
ruption, — an ignobleness which did not escape the comment 
and censure, at the time, of his listeners. 

Meantime, as Mr. Adams considered it improper for him, as 
President of the United States, to denounce the charge of "bar- 
gain and corruption" as false, and as Mr. Clay could find no 
one to hold responsible for the charge, and could therefore only 
denounce it as false and calumnious generally, as he had done 
before his constituents, it was left to do its silent but effective 
work upon the public mind, until General Jackson unintention- 
ally became responsible for it, as we shall see hereafter. 

ARRIVAL OF LAFAYETTE, "THE NATION'S GUEST." 

This eminent and beloved patriot and early friend of America 
had been invited by our government to re-visit this country, 
the scene of his early chivalric services in the cause of liberty 
and the rights of man, and had been tendered a frigate to bring 
him to the United States. He was also tendered a free passage 
by the owners of the different lines of packet-ships running from 
New York to Havre and to Liverpool, which were all splendid 
models of naval architecture, and floating palace?. Having 
declined the use of a public ship, the " Cadmus," Captain Alhn, 
a fine ship belonging to the Havre line of packets, was the for- 
tunate vessel in which he took passage. He arrived at Staten 
Island on Sunday, 15th of August, 1824, accompanied by his 



QO PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

son, George Washington Lafayette, and his son-in-law, M. Le 
Vasseur. Hero he remained until Monday, and was then met 
and welcomed by a distinguished committee from New York, 
who escorted him to that city. Every preparation had been 
made for the occasion, as the arrival of the vessel bearing him 
to our shores had been for several days expected. A great 
number of steamers were chartered and formed in procession, 
every boat dressed with the flags of all nations, the whole pre- 
senting a most animating and gorgeous display. The whole 
bay of New York, indeed, was covered with steamers and other 
vessels decked with flags from deck to top-gallant mast and 
from stern-post to bowsprit. 

The committee on landing proceeded to Lafayette's quarters, 
accompanied by a great but orderly crowd, eager to see one 
who had so endeared himself to a grateful people and who was 
enshrined in the nation's heart. The meeting was most cordial, 
warm, affecting. Every one who could, seized the hand of the 
beloved patriot, who, overcome by this manifestation of regard, 
shed grateful tears, the only reply he could make. 

On the return to New York, two steamers, one on each side, 
took the "Cadmus," decked all over with flags, in tow, and all 
proceeded up the bay to " the Battery," where the landing was 
made, and carriages and a large body of troops were in waiting. 

On approaching the city, every house near the water was 
covered with people, every window filled with ladies waving 
their white handkerchiefs, every vessel black with men and boys, 
wherever one could find " coignc of vantage" or cling to a 
mast. The whole scene was the most animating and sublime 
that could be imagined. I had the good fortune to be on board 
the " Cadmus," and could take in the whole panorama at once. 

As the procession passed up Broadway to the City Hall, every 
door, balcony, and window was occupied, and every house-top 
covered with eager people. It seemed as if the whole population 
of the city had congregated in that street; and yet, on arriving 
at the City Hall, the grounds around were densely packed with 
men, women, and children. Lafayette took a position on the steps 
of the Hall, and reviewed the troops as they marched by him. 

The arrival of Lafayette was an event which stirred the 



LA FA YE TTE' S KECEP TION. 



91 



whole countr)'- ; ever)^body was anxious to see him, and every 
State and city in the Union extended an invitation to him to 
visit such State or city ; and he did so, being everywhere 
received with the most enthusiastic manifestations of love and 
respect. Indeed, each city seemed to vie with every other in 
its demonstrations and in the fetes given to him. 

He spent a little over a year in the United States, traveling 
most of the time, and carr}'ing with him, on his return to 
France, the heartfelt benedictions of a whole nation. 

Lafayette in his travels through the United States occasion- 
ally met with some of his old Revolutionary companions, or the 
widow of an old friend and associate who had passed away. 
Some of these meetings were exceedingly interesting and affect- 
ing, both to the parties who met and to those who witnessed 
them. How could it be otherwise ? As young men they had 
fought and bled in the same noble cause; had endured hard- 
ship and privation together ; together had suffered defeat, and 
together had exulted in victory. For a long series of years 
they had been separated by the Atlantic Ocean ; they now met 
again as old men, many of them just upon the verge of the 
grave. Their meeting must be brief, their words few but full 
of feeling, their separation final. Lafayette had the peculiar 
faculty of remembering faces and recognizing those whom he 
had once known, though time had plowed its deepest furrows 
upon their countenances and whitened their heads with the 
snows of forty additional winters. 

The visit of the distinguished patriot, "The Nation's Guest," 
as he was styled, was a historic event, and one that will be 
remembered, by those who were old enough to remember any- 
thing at the time, as long as their memory shall last. 

Having visited every portion of the United States and re- 
ceived the affectionate homage of the people. General Lafayette 
returned to Washington, where he became in fact "the Nation's 
Guest" at the Presidential mansion. 

Soon after the meeting of Congress, in December, 1824, a bill 
was reported by a joint committee of the two Houses granting 
to him a township of land and the sum of two hundred thou- 
sand dollars, which became a law. 



92 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



Ill order further to honor the old patriot and friend of 
liberty, a banquet was given him by Congress, on the ist 
of January, 1825. Mr. Clay, Speaker of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, presided. The following eminent gentlemen, among 
others, were present: Colonel James Monroe, President; 
General Samuel Smith, General Jackson, Rufus King, General 
Chandler, and Mr. D'Wolf, of the Senate ; J. Q. Adams, Mr. 
Calhoun, Smith Thompson, one of the Judges of the Supreme 
Court; Generals Dearborne, Scott, Macomb, Bernard, and 
Jessup; Commodores Bainbridge, Tingey, Stewart, and Morris, 

Mr. Clay spoke briefly, but with great feeling and eloquence. 
Colonel Monroe, who was present less in his official character 
of President than as an officer of the Revolution, responded to a 
toast; but Mr. Charles Fenton Mercer enchained the attention 
of the company, not only by his very eloquent remarks, but also 
by relating many circumstances of the Revolutionary struggle, 
which he must have obtained from General Washington and 
" Light-Horse Harry Lee," who had both been his neighbors. 
Among other things, he spoke of the sad, forlorn, and dispirited 
condition of the army at Valley Forge, — barefoot, destitute of 
proper food, clothing, blankets, tents, and everything necessary 
to comfort, almost support. Washington, he said, then almost 
despaired, and was meditating the disbanding of the army from 
sheer necessity. Something occurred, however, to give a more 
cheerful tone to his despairing mind, and, forming his ragged, 
destitute, half-starved, barefooted men in line, he said, in a 
kindly, fatherly tone, " Boys, march slowly on to Chester." 

Sadly they marched as best they could, leaving tracks of 
blood, to Chester, where the people received them with open 
arms, open hearts, open hands, and tearful eyes; furnishing 
them food, clothing, shoes, and shelter to the extent of their 
power, for which no men could have been more grateful. It 
was a crisis, — the turning-point of the Revolution, — but the 
crisis was now past. Hope, and confidence, and resolution 
once more animated the heart of the beloved general, and the 
hearts also of his compatriots and the forlorn little army. The 
rest is known. 

Among the guests present was Caspar Everhart, a Methodist 



CONGRESSIONAL BANQUET TO LAFAYETTE. p^ 

preacher, and chaplain in the Revolutionary army, who had been 
sent for and brought here for the occasion from his residence 
at Frederick, Maryland. Being called upon, he made some re- 
marks and told many amusing Revolutionary anecdotes. " How 
was it, Mr. Everhart," some one inquired, " that you, unarmed, 
took three British soldiers prisoners ?" " But I zvas armed," he 
replied. " True, I had no gun, nor pistol, nor sword, but I had 
a powerful weapon, and one that, if used too often, is very 
deadly, and I used it on this occasion. It was a bottle of rum. 
I met these soldiers and entered into a little conversation with 
them, and, finally, invited them to go to a spring near by and 
take refreshing drinks. They required no persuasion, but went 
at once, stacked their arms, sat down, and soon became liors du 
combat, as our French allies used to say. Wishing to extend 
my hospitalities still further, I took their muskets, and then in- 
vited them to accompany me to our camp. Duly appreciating 
mv kindness in taking care of them when not in a fit condition 
to take care of themselves, they did not refuse my pressing 
invitation." 

We may well imagine what roars of laughter Mr. Everhart 
brought out by the quaint manner in which he related this 
heroic feat. This, however, was but one of many amusing 
circumstances of the times related by this beloved chaplain. 

It was an occasion and a banquet long to be remembered, 
and is still vividly remembered by several gentlemen now living 
in W^ashington, — some of the " oldest inhabitants," of course, 
as it took place forty-nine years ago. 

But what an assemblage of heroes, statesmen, patriots, gen- 
erals, and commodores was here to do honor to the beloved 
" guest of the nation" ! Not one among them but of whom 
Fame had proclaimed "her loudest O yes!" not one whose 
name was not already familiar to the lips of every American 
and inscribed high upon his country's scroll of honor; not one 
who had not rendered eminent service to his country, in her 
cabinet councils, in her halls of legislation, on the field of 
battle, or on the briny ocean, where had been won the laurels 
of victory, now so gracefully worn. 

The frigate Brandywinc had been prepared to convey General 



g^ PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

Lafayette from our shores to those of France. The ship had been 
named the " Brandywine" in commemoration of the gallantry 
of Lafayette and his being wounded in the battle of that name. 

The day at length arrived when he was to bid a final adieu 
to America, and when the nation, through its chief magistrate, 
was to bid him farewell. The occasion was made a public and 
imposing one. An eye-witness of it says, " The 7th instant 
(September, 1825) was the day appointed for his departure. 
The civil and military authorities, and the whole people of 
Washington, had prepared to honor it. The banks were closed, 
and all business suspended. 

" At about twelve o'clock the authorities of Washington, 
Georgetown, and Alexandria, the principal officers of the gen- 
eral government, — civil, military, and naval, — some members 
of Congress, and other respected strangers, were assembled in 
the President's house to take leave of Lafayette." 

Everything being prepared, the President addressed him in 
language exceedingly eloquent and touching, 

" , . , In the lapse of forty years," Mr. Adams said, "the 
generation of men with whom you co-operated in the conflict 
of arms has nearly passed away. Of the general officers of the 
American army in that war, you alone survive. , . , A suc- 
ceeding and even a third generation have arisen ; . . . and 
their children's children, while rising up to call them blessed, 
have been taught by them ... to include in every benison 
upon their fathers the name of him who came from afar, with 
them and in their cause to conquer or fall. 

" You have traversed the twenty-four States of this great con- 
federacy. You have been received with rapture by the survivors 
of your earliest companions-in-arms. You have been hailed as 
a long-absent parent by their children, the men and women of 
the present age. . , . You have heard the mingled voices of 
the past, the present, and the future age joining in one universal 
chorus of delight at your approach, and the shouts of unbidden 
thousands which greeted you on your landing have followed 
every step of your way, and still resound, like the rushing of 
many waters, from every corner of our land. 

" You are about to return to the country of your birth. . . , 



DEPARTURE OF LAFAYETTE. qc 

The first service of a fi-igate recently launched at this metropolis 
[will be that] of conveying you home. The name of the ship 
has added one more memorial to distant regions and future 
ages of a stream already memorable at once in the story of 
your sufferings and of our independence." 

To this eloquent and pathetic valedictory Lafayette replied 
in language equally eloquent and touching; and there were few 
tearless eyes among the distinguished persons, men and women, 
there present. 

Immediately after this scene, Lafayette left the Presidential 
mansion and the city, and proceeded down the Potomac to its 
mouth, where the Brandywine awaited his coming, and on board 
of which he left our shores, never to return. He was accom- 
panied to the frigate by the Secretary of the Navy (Mr. South- 
ard) ; the Mayors of Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria ; 
the Commander-in-chief of the Army, General Brown ; Com- 
modore Bainbridge, Mr. Custis of Arlington, and many other 
distinguished personages. 

■ Among the distinguished characters present at the Lafay- 
ette banquet I have mentioned General Dearborne, of Boston. 
At that day gentlemen, especially lawyers, were much in the 
habit of taking snuff, and in this habit the general had so 
long indulged, and to such excess, that he had almost entirely 
lost his voice. Mr. Clay was also fond of snuff, — so fond that 
he would never carry a box, lest he should indulge the habit 
to such excess as to injure his voice, — his splendid, silver-toned, 
melodious voice. There was, however, a tobacco-store on "the 
Avenue," where he usually stopped on passing to get a pinch 
of fine maccaboy. Passing the place the morning after the great 
dinner in company with General Dearborne, he stopped, as 
usual, inviting his friend in to test the quality of Mr. Tobac- 
conist's snuff As they were snuffing away. General Dear- 
born^ remarked that snuff injured some men's voices, "but," 
said he, with what little vocal power snuff had left him, " it has 
never affected mine in the least." 

Mr. Clay used to relate this anecdote with great humor, imi- 
tating, in doing so. General Dearborne's piping tones, to the 
infinite amusement of his company. 



96 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



THE BEGINNING OF A STORM. 



Hark! Is that distant and faint rumbling thunder? The 
skies are clear, but something gives warning of a coming storm ; 
and it may be a tempest that shall carry desolation over the 
land. It comes from the South, — from Georgia. Listen : Gov- 
ernor Troup, in an official communication to the Legislature of 
that State, warns them of danger and entreats them to stand by 
their arms! The storm is coming; this is the first faint indica- 
tion of it ; but in thirty-five or forty years it will sweep like a 
tornado from the Potomac — ay, from the Susquehanna — to the 
Rio Grande, and the South, having sown the wind, shall reap 
the whirlwind. 

On the 23d of May, 1825, Governor G. M. Troup sent a 
message to the Legislature of Georgia, which he had called 
together, in which occur these passages : 

" Since your last meeting, our feelings have been again out- 
raged by officious and impertinent intermeddlings with our 
domestic concerns. Besides the resolution presented for the 
consideration of the Senate by Mr. King, of New York, it is 
understood that the Attorney-General of the United States, who 
may be presumed to represent his government faithfully and to 
speak as its mouth-piece, has recently maintained, before the 
Supreme Court, doctrines on this subject which, if sanctioned by 
that tribunal, will make it quite easy for the Congress, by a short 
decree, to divest this entire interest [slavery] without cost to 
themselves of one dollar or of one acre of land. ... I entreat 
you, therefore, most earnestly, now that it is not too late, to 
step forth, and, having exhausted the argument, to stand by 
your arms." 

Surely Mr. Rufus King and Mr. Attorney-General Wirt must 
have committed some grave offense ! What was it ? Mr. King 
introduced a resolution into the Senate of the United States, 
resolving that " so soon as the portion of the funded debt, for 
the payment of which the public lands were pledged, should 
be paid off, then the whole public lands of the United States, 
with the net proceeds of all future sales, should constitute a 
fund to be applied to the emancipation of such slaves, and the 



COMPLETION OF THE ERIE CANAL. 



97 



removal of such free persons of color in any of the States, as by 
the laws of the said States may be allowed to be emancipated 
or removed without the limits of the United States." The reso- 
lution was never called up or acted on ; yet Governor Troup, 
in his nervous alarm, saw in it something very dangerous, and 
forthwith invoked the Legislature of his State to stand by their 
arms. 

Governor Troup's message was taken up for consideration 
in the Georgia House of Representatives, when Mr. Lumpkin 
submitted the following resolution : 

That they concur in the sentiments of the Governor, and, 
" having exhausted the argument," we will " stand by our arms." 

COMPLETION OF THE ERIE CANAL, AND THE CELEBRATION OF 

THE EVENT. 

The completion of this great channel of commerce from the 
Atlantic to Lake Erie was a most important event, — one of the 
most importaht in its consequences which had ever occurred 
in the great Empire State. It was of national importance. It 
was the opening of the door and a channel of commerce between 
the East and the great, rich Northwest, then but very partially 
settled, — much of it primeval forest or prairie, — but which, im- 
mediately after this event, began to be settled with amazing 
rapidity, and is now filled with its teeming rhillions of indus- 
trious inhabitants, its large and elegant cities, its wonderful net- 
work of railroads, its churches, colleges, and common schools, 
rivaling those of the oldest States. 

It was very properly determined that the completion of this 
great work should be celebrated with a grand procession of 
boats, to commence at Buffalo and end at Sandy Hook, where 
the waters of the lake should be mingled with those of tlie 
ocean. The completion of the canal, and the letting in of the 
waters of the lake, took place on the 27th of October, 1825. 

Cannon had been placed at suitable distances from Buffalo 
to Sandy Hook, and upon the letting in of the waters the gun 
at Buffalo was fired, and the next, as soon as the report of the 
first was heard, and so on to Sandy Hook, thus announcing the 
important event. The first gun was fired at ten o'clock a.m., 

7 



98 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



and the gladsome sound reached New York at twenty minutes 
past eleven. The cannon, when their boom had reached Sandy 
Hook, were fired in reversed order, one extremity thus replying 
to the other. 

Simultaneously with the letting in of the waters at Buffalo, 
boats gayly decorated and drawn by four and six horses started 
for New York. They were joined by others, similarly decorated 
and drawn, at Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, and other principal 
towns on the canal, and these formed quite a fleet by the time 
they reached Albany. Here they entered the North or Hudson 
River, and were towed down by a fleet of steamers, the whole 
presenting a most gay and animating scene. There was the 
"Seneca Chief," from Buffalo; the "Niagara," from Black Rock; 
and the " Young Lion of the West," from Rochester. With the 
fleet from Albany came Governor De Witt Clinton, to whom 
the canal owed its existence. This fleet was met above New 
York and escorted to the city by another fleet of steamers, 
gayly decorated with flags and streamers, arriving about nine 
o'clock A.M. on the 4th of November. At a given signal, all 
the vessels and forts in the harbor were ornamented with flags, 
and a grand salute was fired. The fleet, consisting of twenty- 
one steamers with several large vessels in tow besides the boats 
that had come through the canal, proceeded down the bay to 
Sandy Hook amidst the roar of cannon. On arriving at " the 
Hook," Governor Clinton performed the ceremony of uniting 
the waters, by pouring a keg of the waters of Lake Erie into 
the Atlantic, upon which occasion he made an appropriate 
speech. After other ceremonies, the drinking of toasts, etc., 
the fleet returned to the city. Thus was completed the great 
work which had for more than ten years employed the mind 
and energies of De Witt Clinton, whose name the canal 
ought to bear, and to whose memory it is a noble monument, 
more enduring than brass or marble. It was a triumphant day 
to him ; it was a proud day for the State of New York ; it was 
a great day for the nation. It was the beginning of that system 
of internal navigation by canals, which, before railroads were 
thought of as channels of internal commerce, furnished an 
outlet to the rich fields of the West, for its stores of produce, 



DE WITT CLINTON. no 

almost valueless before, but immensely valuable so soon as 
the means were thus provided for its being transported to the 
sea-board cities. 

The Erie Canal originally cost about seven millions of dollars, 
but added more than a thousand millions to the value of the 
property owned by the people of New York, and, prospectively, 
untold millions to the wealth of the nation. And yet it did not 
come into existence without the most virulent opposition. It 
was scouted and ridiculed as a chimerical idea, a work too 
gigantic to be accomplished in a generation, if at all. It 
was hooted at as " Clinton's Big Ditch ;" and at its commence- 
ment (when I was a student of law in Troy) I frequently heard 
" Bucktails," or " Tammany men," or " Anti-Clintonians," declare 
that they should be glad to be assured of living till "the ditch" 
was completed, but that event no one then living would 
behold ! Perhaps the wish, inspired by political hostility to 
Clinton, was father to the idea that the canal never could be 
finished. It never would have been, had the hostility to Clinton 
been as powerful as it was intense. 

The completion of the Champlain, Oswego, and other smaller 
canals soon followed that of the Erie, as also the canal from 
Lake Erie, at Cleveland, to the Ohio River, and the great 
Pennsylvania canals, each and all the legitimate offspring of the 
Erie or Clinton Canal. 

DE WITT CLINTON, 

to whose genius and perseverance New York is indebted for 
her magnificent works of internal improvement, which have 
added thousands of millions to her wealth, was fortunate in 
living to witness the completion of the great work which had 
for so many years occupied his thoughts and called forth \\\s 
energies. He lived to enjoy his own triumph, almost his own 
apotheosis, — to see those who had sneered and scoffed at him 
and cast ridicule upon him, who had thrown every obstacle in 
his way they possibly could, now put to shame, and made to 
feel how unjust, how unpatriotic, how base, how mean had 
been their persecution of and opposition to him and the great 
work in which they now could not, as citizens of New York,. 



IQO PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

but indulge a lofty pride. New York owes him a debt she can 
never pay. 

Mr. Clinton died very suddenly, a little more than a year 
after the completion of the Erie Canal, at Albany, being then 
Governor of the State. 

In manly beauty of form and features De Witt Clinton had 
no superior. His deportment was dignified, but wanting in 
warmth and geniality. It was as impossible for him to fawn 
and flatter as it would have been, with his large and portly 
frame, to play the part of an acrobat. Dignity and reserve 
distinguished him everywhere and at all times. He had warm 
friends who admired, but bitter enemies who hated him. He 
lacked the winning manners of a Clay or a Jackson, as well as 
the tact and judgment to assuage the rancor of his opponents. 

A CALM. GENERAL JACKSON RESIGNS HIS SEAT IN THE SENATE. 

HIS LETTER OF RESIGNATION. 

During the spring, summer, and autumn of 1825 the country 
was as free from political strife as it had been during Mr. Mon- 
roe's administration. Not a murmur was heard against the 
election of Mr. Adams, save now and then from the South and 
from some very ardent friend of General Jackson. But there 
was rancor in the breasts of those whose hopes had been dis- 
appointed. They at once proclaimed General Jackson a can- 
didate to succeed Mr. Adams, and were as persevering as they 
were unscrupulous in their efforts to elect him, till they accom- 
plished their purpose. 

On the meeting of the Legislature of Tennessee, in October, 
that body formally nominated him, at the same time passing 
eulogistic resolutions commending him to the people of the 
United States as a fit man to fill the office of President. 

General Jackson, on the 13th of October, 1825, addressed a 
letter to that body resigning his seat in the United States 
Senate. Subsequent events gave great importance to this letter, 
which is now a historical document. As a reason for resign- 
ing, he says, " Having been advised of a resolution of your 
honorable body, presenting again my name to the American 
people for the office of chief magistrate of this Union, I could 



JACKSON RESIGNS II IS SEAT IN THE SENATE. jqi 

no longer hesitate on the course I should pursue; doubt yielded 
to certainty, and I determined forthwith to ask your indulgence 
to be excused from any further service in the councils of the 
nation. 

" Thus situated, — my name presented to the freemen of the 
United States for the first office known to the Constitution, — I 
could not, w^ith anything of approbation on my part, consent 
either to urge or encourage an altercation [what altercation ?] 
which might wear the appearance of being induced by selfish 
consideration, by a desire to advance my own views. I feel a 
thorough and safe conviction that imputation would be ill 
founded, and that nothing could prompt me to any active 
course on the subject [what subject?] which my judgment did 
not approve ; yet, as from late events [the election by the 
House of Representatives] it might be inferred that the pros- 
pects of your recommendation could be rendered probable only 
by the people having the choice given to them direct, abundant 
room would be afforded to ascribe any exertions of mine to 
causes appertaining exclusively to myself Imputations thus 
made would be extremely irksome to any person of virtuous 
and independent feeling ; they would certainly prove so to me ; 
and hence the determination to retire from a situation where 
strong suspicions might at least attach, and with great seeming 
propriety. I hasten, therefore, to tender this my resignation. 

" With a view to sustain more effectually in practice the 
axiom which divides the three great classes of powers into 
independent constitutional checks, I would impose a provision 
rendering any member of Congress ineligible to office, under 
the general government, during the term for which he was 
elected, and for two years thereafter, except in cases of judicial 
office. . . . 

"The effect of such a constitutional provision is obvious. By 
it Congress, in a considerable degree, would be free from that 
connection with the executive department which at present 
gives strong ground of apprehension and jealousy on the part 
of the people. Members, instead of being liable to be with- 
drawn from legislating on the great interests of the nation 



J 02 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

throuf^h prospects of executive patronage, would be more 
liberally confided in by their constituents; while their vigilance 
would be less interrupted by party feelings and party excite- 
ments. Calculations from intrigue or management would fail; 
nor would their deliberations or their investigation of subjects 
consume so much time. The morals of the country would be 
improved, and virtue, uniting with the labors of the represent- 
ativ^es and with the official ministers of the law, would tend to 
perpetuate the honor and glory of the government. 

"But if this change in the Constitution should not be obtained, 
and important appointments continue to devolve on the repre- 
sentatives in Congress, it requires no depth of thought to be 
convinced that corruption zvill become the order of the day, and 
that, under the garb of conscientious sacrifices to establish pre- 
cedents for the public good, evils of serious importance to the 
freedom and prosperity of the republic may arise. It is through 
this channel that the people may expect to be attacked in their 
constitutional sovereignty, and where tyranny may well be 
apprehended to spring up in some favorable emergency. 

" My name having been before the nation for the office of 
chief magistrate during the time I served as your Senator, 
placed me in a situation truly delicate ; but, delicate as it was, 
my friends do not and my enemies cannot charge me with 
descending from the independent ground then occupied, with 
degrading the trust reposed on me by intriguing for the Presi- 
dential chair. As by a resolution of your body you have 
thought proper again to present my name to the American 
people, I must entreat to be excused from any further service 
in the Senate, and to suggest, in conclusion, that it is due to 
myself to practice upon the maxims recommended to others, 
and hence feel constrained to retire from a situation where 
temptations may exist and suspicions arise of the exercise of 
an influence tending to my own aggrandizement." 

This letter was generally published, and attracted much at- 
tention. Prone as the mass of the people generally are to 
credit charges of corruption against those in power, the " im- 
putation" that members of Congress were liable to be corrupted 



JACKSON RESIGNS HIS SEAT IN THE SENATE. 103 

by being appointed to office by the President found ready 
credence, and the proposed mode of preventing this great evil 
was hailed with approbation. General Jackson rose still higher 
in public estimation, as a wise patriot and a very honest, 
" virtuous," and incorruptible man. I may truly say that he 
was looked upon, by a large majority of the people of the 
United States, as far above and scorning all intrigue ; wholly 
indifferent to the Presidency, and a very paragon of honesty, 
purity, and elevation of character. " Imputations" and warn- 
ings, therefore, coming from him, fell upon the public mind 
with great force ; no sinister motive could be imputed to or 
actuate ///;//. 

At this time — 1825 — those contrivances to catch votes, those 
mean-nothing, party manifestoes called " platforms," had not 
been invented. The public services of each candidate for the 
Presidency, and his well-known principles, constituted his "plat- 
form," and this, if the candidate had been long before the public 
as a member of the Senatt or the House of Representatives, or 
had filled high civil stations, was a far more reliable guarantee 
to the people than any " platform" gotten up for the occasion 
and filled with professions and political platitudes which are 
forgotten as soon as written. 

This letter of General Jackson's was his "Platform," his 
"Pronunciamiento" to the people of the United States. It was 
the key-note to his friends and advocates, and so they under- 
stood and used it. 

Following up, or rather in accordance with. General Jackson's 
tocsin of alarm that the appointing of members of Congress to 
Federal offices would result in corruption becoming "the order 
of the day," Mr. Benton, in February, 1826, introduced into the 
United States Senate a resolution to amend the Constitution of 
the United States as follows, to wit, that 

" No Senator or Representative shall be appointed to any 
civil office, place, or emolument, under the authority of the 
United States, until the expiration of the Presidential term in 
which such person shall have served as a Senator or Repre- 
sentative." 

The passage of this resolution was never pressed, — probably 



104 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

never desired. We shall see, hereafter, how, in respect to ap- 
pointing members of Congress to Federal offices, General Jack- 
son practiced upon the maxims he recommended to others. 

GOVERNOR TROUP AND GEORGIA TERRIBLY EXCITED. THEY 

" STAND BY THEIR ARMS." 

The stillness that had so long prevailed in the political at- 
mosphere proved to be but the calm which precedes the storm. 
Mutterings had been occasionally heard from the South and 
Southwest, and there were certain other indications which were 
unmistakable signs of a violent change. But no organized 
opposition as yet existed to the administration. 

Governor Troup, of Georgia, seemed to be in a very excita- 
ble condition, and highly irritated against the President and 
certain officers sent to Georgia by the general government to 
look after the Indians and certain lands lately ceded to the 
government by treaty. A very caustic correspondence took 
place between him and General Gaines, Avho had been ordered 
to that State ; and the Governor addressed some extraordinary 
letters to the President, complaining of the " arrogance," " self- 
sufficiency," " haughty and contemptuous carriage, and most 
insulting interference with our local politics" by the govern- 
ment officials sent there, and demanding to know " if these 
things have been done in virtue of your instructions ... or 
authority; . . . and if not, whether you [the President] will 
sanction and adopt them as your own, and thus hold yourself 
responsible to the government of Georgia f" 

"Most unquestionably," says Mr. Niles (see "Niles's Regis- 
ter," September lO, 1825), "the Governor of Georgia had de- 
termined either to bully the government of the United States 
into submission to his schemes, or Jight his way to success in 
them, if the Georgians would ' stand by their arms' and support 
him." 

This was one of the means adopted to raise up hostility to 
the administration, by arousing Southern prejudice. " State 
rights ! State rights ! the sovereignty of the State is invaded ! 
the federal government is assuming unlimited power!" were the 
cries by which the people were to be aroused and alarmed. 



FIRST SESSION NINETEENTH CONGRESS. 105 

FIRST SESSION NINETEENTH CONGRESS. PANAMA MISSION RECOM- 
MENDED. 

The Nineteenth Congress commenced its session on the 5th 
day of December, 1825, and the first message of President 
Adams was sent in the next day. In speaking of the South 
American Repubhcs, he said, — 

" Among the measures which have been suggested to them 
by the new relations with one another, resuhing from the recent 
changes of their condition [from that of subject colonies to in- 
dependent repubhcs], is that of assembHng at the Isthmus of 
Panama a congress, at which each of them should be repre- 
sented, to deliberate upon subjects important to the welfare of all. 
The republics of Colombia and Mexico and of Central America 
have already deputed plenipotentiaries to such a meeting, 
and they have invited the United States to be also represented 
there by their ministers. The invitation has been accepted, 
and ministers on the part of the United States will be com- 
missioned to attend at those deliberations, and to take part in 
them so far as may be compatible with that neutrality from 
which it is neither our intention, nor the desire of the other 
American States, that we should depart." 

The message was universally commended at the North as a 
most able state paper; at the South, however, a few of the 
leading journals raised an outcry against it, declaring that " a 
fearful crisis was at hand;" that "the message formed an era in 
the government;" that "a higher-toned message had not been 
seen since the days of John Adams, or one so directly looking 
to the establishment of a magnificent, overshadowing govern- 
ment." 

The Legislatures of Pennsylvania and Maryland both adopted 
resolutions expressing confidence in the administration, and 
approving of its course in regard to the proposed congress at 
Panama. Upon this question a most protracted and heated 
debate took place in both branches of Congress during the 
session of 1825-6, occupying a large portion of the entire time 
of that session. 



Io6 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



THE OPPOSITION PARTY FORMED. 



A party opposed to the administration was formed, mainly by 
the efforts of Mr. Calhoun and his friends, though Mr. Randolph 
and Colonel Benton were among its master-spirits. Among 
these also were Colonel Hayne, Mr. McDuffie, and Colonel 
Hamilton, of South Carolina, Mr. Forsyth and Mr. Berrien, of 
Georgia, Mr. Livingston, of Louisiana, Richard M. Johnson, of 
Kentucky, Colonel King, of Alabama, Mr. Van Buren and Mr. 
Cambreleng, of New York, Messrs. Buchanan and Ingham, of 
Pennsylvania, Mr. Woodberry and Isaac Hill, of New Hamp- 
shire, and others eminent for talent, including all who had 
supported General Jackson at the preceding election. 

Two motives induced the old prominent, ambitious Federal- 
ists of the country generally to join the " Combination," or 
Jackson, party -.first, their resentment against J. Q. Adams, who 
had, in former years, deserted them and supported the measures 
of President Jefferson ; second, the advice of General Jackson to 
Mr. Monroe to destroy the " monster, party," and make up his 
cabinet irrespective of parties, at the same time recommending 
Colonel Drayton, a Federalist, as Secretary of War. They had 
been long excluded from the enjoyment of official honors, and 
longed to return to the pleasant seats they had once occupied. 

Of the most prominent men of this " Combination," Mr. Ran- 
dolph had always been opposed to internal improvements by 
government means, against all surveys by the government of 
roads and canals, and against making them, including the great 
Cumberland Road, leading through Maryland, Pennsylvania, 
Ohio, Indiana, etc., which was tJie great work in its day, and 
most useful and important to the West. He was also the 
sworn enemy of "the protective system." 

Mr. Calhoun, on the contrary, had been the strong advocate 
of protection to domestic manufactures, and made a celebrated 
speech in favor of that policy, as a national policy, \\\ i8i6, when 
South Carolina wished to drive out of our market India cotton 
goods and replace them by cloths made of South Carolina cotton. 
He was also the earnest advocate of internal improvements. 

Mr. Benton had been the advocate of protection to domestic 



THE OPPOSITION PARTY FORMED. jo7 

manufactures, as the whole West was at one time, and the 
poHtical friend of Henry Clay, the author of " the American 
system." He had also been in favor of internal improvements 
by government means, if we can judge by his votes in favor of 
appropriations for continuing the Cumberland Road. Similar 
remarks could be made of other prominent members of this new 
party. Many had had personal differences of long standing. 
The feeling of the Georgians towards General Jackson had 
been very hostile for many years — ever since his famous letter 
to Governor Rabun, of that State. 

In forming a new national party, it became necessary to settle 
the policy or principles which were to constitute its creed and be- 
come a common bond of union for all its members. How could 
this be done where the leaders had held and long advocated 
principles so diverse and irreconcilable ? There could be but one 
way : somebody, more than one, must give up cherished opinions, 
favorite measures, approved systems of policy, the championship 
of which had gained them whatever favor they had with the 
countr}^, and adopt and advocate creeds, measures, and doctrines 
the reverse of all they had before professed and supported. 

But " the Combination" was formed ; and what was the induce- 
ment to all this surrender of cherished opinions, this laying upon 
the altar of party principles long professed and earnestly advo- 
cated ? Had the administration committed any great crime? 
Had it violated any republican principle ? Were its measures 
condemned by the people ? Had it assumed any unwarranted 
powers ? This could hardly be alleged ; and certainly, up to that 
time, not a voice was raised, north of the Potomac, against it, 
nor was any opposition to it in that portion of the country 
anticipated, it being as free from party feeling and strife as it 
had been for eight years past. 

In an interview between Mr. Calhoun and Joseph Mcllvaine, 
of Philadelphia, which took place in December, 1825, or Janu- 
ary, 1826, as related to me by Mr. Mcllvaine, he being, at the 
time he related it to me. Recorder of Philadelphia, Mr. Calhoun 
urged him to join the new party, in opposition to the adminis- 
tration. Mr. Mcllvaine objected, on the ground that it had 
done nothing objectionable, and should be judged by its meas- 



I08 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

ures. Certainly he could not oppose it so long as its measures 
met his approbation, as they had thus far. 

Mr. Calhoun replied that such was the manner in which it 
came into power that // must be defeated at all haaards, regard- 
less of its vieasiires. 

Mr. McIIvaine rejoined that this was very different from the 
principles he had learned from him (Mr. Calhoun), and it was 
too late for him to unlearn them and learn others. He per- 
ceived that their respective political roads now diverged, and 
he would therefore respectfully bid him adieu. 

This interview was at the instance of Mr. Calhoun, and held 
in the Vice-President's chamber, in the Capitol. 

The interview between these two gentlemen, and the language 
used by Mr. Calhoun, are strikingly similar to a colloquy be- 
tween Colonel William W. Seaton and Colonel Richard M. 
Johnson, an account of which, from the pen of Colonel Seaton, 
was published in the Washington "Telegraph" of April i8, 
1827. In this conversation Colonel Johnson declared that "as 
for this administration [Mr. Adams's], we will turn them out 
as sure as there is a God in heaven." 

To this Mr. Seaton replied, " But how can you say so, 
colonel, before you see what course the administration will 
adopt ? Suppose they consult the public interest and pursue 
a course that you think right ?" 

Colonel Johnson : " I don't care [speaking with warmth] ; for, 
by the Eternal, if they act as pure as the angels that stand at 
the right hand of the throne of God, we'll put them down." 

Colonel Johnson was one of those whom Mr. Clay consulted 
as to the propriety of his accepting the office of Secretary of 
State, and who strenuously urged him to accept it, saying that 
on account of the interests of the West he should not decline. 

But what could be Mr. Calhoun's motive for so actively and 
zealously opposing Mr. Adams, whose election he at one time 
favored, and of whom, in a letter to General Peter B. Porter, he 
spoke as "that great and good man"? It was quite apparent: 
he had linked his fortunes with those of General Jackson : the 
general had declared himself in favor of an alteration of the 
Constitution, limiting the service of President to a single term. 



THE OPPOSITION PARTY FORMED. jog 

He was considered, therefore, bound to limit his own service to 
a single term. But that term he must have before Mr. Calhoun 
could step to the front. Here, then, was Mr. Calhoun's short 
road to the Presidency. Of course he was deeply interested in 
electing General Jackson, and thus removing the only apparent 
obstacle in his way, at the same time entitling himself to his 
and his friends' support as his successor, of which he could not 
entertain a doubt. Alas ! what did subsequent events prove ? 
Would he have been so earnest and unwearied in his efforts to 
form this new party had he foreseen what those events were to 
be, — that for all the wheat he was sowing he was to have naught 
but chaff, and that with insulting derision ? 

It was reported, and, I have reason to believe, correctly, as I 
had it from those who were in accord with the new party, that 
various meetings of the leaders of the opposition took place 
early in the session of 1825-6, when Mr. Calhoun invariably 
urged upon them the necessity of having a press at their com- 
mand. This, it was said in reply, would cost a good deal of 
money. " Very true," said Mr. Calhoun ; " but if the play is 
worth the candle, buy the candle : if not, let us give up the 
play." The argument had the desired effect : a considerable 
sum of money (fifty thousand dollars) was raised, and the 
" United States Telegraph" was established. 

General Duff Green, of Missouri, became the editor and pro- 
prietor of the "Telegraph;" and a more fit and capable man 
for the services required could not have been found. General 
Green had an extensive knowledge of the public men of the 
day, great intelligence, embracing a great variety of subjects, 
strong powers of mind, unwearied industry, and wielded a 
vigorous pen. The purpose for which he had been sought 
was to write dotun one set of men and to write np another. If 
this could be done by simple, plain, unvarnished statements of 
facts, why, well ; if not, so much the worse for the facts. 

The two parties were now in the field, with their respective 
organs, — the administration party, and the "combination," after- 
wards the "Jackson party;" the former to become eventually 
the "National Republican," the "Whig," and, finally, the "Re- 
publican party" of the present day. 



no PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

There was one purpose in forming the new party, common 
to each member : namely, the putting down of the Adams 
administration. In this there was unity ; beyond this, division 
and hostility. 

General Green opened his batteries with a vigor and clamor 
heretofore unprecedented in this country, to rouse public opinion 
and set it against the administration, and especially against Mr. 
Adams and Mr, Clay. Charges of the grossest corruption and 
extravagance were made in so bold, positive, and confident a 
manner, and in such thundering tones, and these charges were 
so oft repeated, that the people of the United States, not then ac- 
customed to hearing such allegations against the highest officers 
of the government, and not knowing that all this Avas done for 
political effect, — that there was not a grain of truth to a pound of 
falsehood in them, — were astounded, and some even convinced. 

It was the role of the opposition party to attack, and keep the 
administration on the defensive; and in this they had a decided 
advantage. They were a scattered army in the field besieging 
a citadel; every shot of theirs "told," while those in the citadel 
must fire at random, and at least only hit individuals; and indi- 
viduals, as all know, are of no account in an army. The admin- 
istration was denominated the "coalition," the "monarchical 
party." It was charged that "the great contest was between 
power and liberty, patronage and the ballot-box." The people 
were assured that the aim of the administration was "a great 
radical change of our system, by which it would ultimately 
receive a direction that would end in monarchy," and much 
more of the same kind. 

After Mr. King's return from England, Mr. Gallatin was 
appointed Minister to Great Britain. He was an old-time Re- 
publican or Democrat; had been a Senator from Pennsylvania, 
Secretary of the Treasury under Presidents Jefferson, Madison, 
and Monroe, — twelve years in all, — Minister Plenipotentiary 
with Adams, Bayard, Clay, and Russell at Ghent, and Minister 
to France. But upon his appointment it was insinuated that he 
had been tampered with by, or was willing to sell himself to, 
the administration. " He had frequently visited Washington," 
it was said, and it was asked " if that had anything to do with his 



THE OPPOSITION PARTY FORMED. uj 

appointment." The question implied that there was corruption in 
the appointment; but indeed every act of the administration was 
distorted in the vilest manner and attributed to base motives. 

The malevolence of the assaults upon and misrepresentations 
of the administration at this time has no precedent, except 
in the war waged upon General Washington's administration 
during the last four years of his service, or his second term. 
The "Telegraph" daily teemed with falsehoods, uttered with the 
most positive asseveration, as if they were gospel truths. Thus 
sent forth, they were caught up and republished, with comments 
calculated and intended to excite the minds of the people, by 
all " the affiliated presses" in every part of the country. To 
contradict them was useless, as the contradiction could never 
overtake the falsehood, and this no one knew better than the 
editor himself. 

In recommending the erection of observatories for astro- 
nomical purposes, such as we now have, Mr. Adams spoke of 
them as " light-houses of the skies ;" for which expression he 
was ridiculed by the whole opposition press, which also jeered 
and scoffed at observatories as if they were utterly worthless. . 
Mr. Adams was strongly in favor of the system of internal 
improvements by the general government, which had been 
begun by Mr. Calhoun and so strenuously advocated by him. 
Speaking of this subject in his Inaugural Address, he said, 
" The magnificence and splendor of their public works are 
among the imperishable glories of the ancient republics. The 
roads and aqueducts of Rome have been the admiration of 
after-ages, and have survived thousands of years after all her 
conquests have been swallowed up in despotism or become the 
spoil of barbarians. Some diversity of opinion has prevailed 
with regard to the powers of Congress for legislation upon 
objects of this nature. The most respectful deference is due to 
doubts originating in pure patriotism and sustained by vener- 
able authority. But nearly twenty years have passed since the 
construction of the first national road was commenced. The 
authority for its construction was then unquestioned. To how 
many thousands of our countrymen has it proved a benefit! 
To what single individual has it ever proved an injury?" 



112 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

In his first annual message he again brought the subject of 
internal improvements before the Congress and the nation, say- 
ing, " The spirit of improvement is abroad upon the earth. It 
stimulates the heart and sharpens the faculties, not of 'our 
fellow-citizens alone, but of the nations of Europe and their 
rulers. 

" While foreign nations, less blessed with that freedom, which 
is power, than ourselves, are advancing with gigantic strides in 
the career of public improvements, were we to slumber in 
indolence or fold up our arms and proclaim to the world that 
we are palsied by the will of our constituents, would it not be 
to cast away the bounties of Providence and doom ourselves 
to perpetual inferiority ?" . , . 

" Palsied by the will of our constituents." This was another 
expression which the opposition rang the charges upon, and 
used with great effect. 

But, however virulent the war made upon him and his ad- 
ministration, Mr. Adams would take no steps to counteract it. 
It was well known that men holding high federal offices were 
in opposition to him and exerting great influence in favor of 
General Jackson, and he was strongly urged to remove them 
and appoint his own friends; but this he persistently refused to 
do, saying that they had a right to support whom they deemed 
most fit for President, and he would not punish them for pre- 
ferring another to himself It was safe, therefore, for any one 
to join the opposition, but not so to adhere to the administration. 

About this time, or a little later, Mr. Hezckiah Niles, of Balti- 
more, editor of" Niles's Register," and an old Republican, visited 
Washington, and, on returning home, gave expression to his 
thoughts and feelings. Speaking of the violence that character- 
ized the contest of parties, he says, " It is not our purpose to 
inquire whence the necessity of such a state of things; why the 
excitement that already prevails among politicians, though the 
people are calm; why the heat manifested against, and the abuse 
heaped upon, distinguished gentlemen hitherto regarded as 
among those who did honor to their country and marked the 
character of the age, and whose claims to the most exalted 



THE OPPOSITION PARTY FORMED. 113 

standing, for private probity and public worth, were ne\'cr 
questioned until party had conjured up its chimeras to con- 
found the understandings of men and lead tlicni into captivity 
blindfolded by passion. . . . We look on and wonder at the 
transfo7'inations of the character of persons and of the fitness of 
things. 

" Individuals who were supposed to be the wisest and best, 
the most discreet or patriotic of our citizens, a little while ago, 
are now spoken of as corrupt and base ; and others that were 
among the least approved for character, discretion, or moral 
worth, arc exalted into beings of a very superior order, though 
neither, perhaps, have changed their opinions or principles, or 
in any respect prescribed new rules of conduct for themselves. 
Such, however, is the iiccrouiancy of party, that makes men as 
devils or as gods, at will, imputing all that is base and claiming 
all that is excellent." 

This is a dispassionate statement of the political condition 
of thinfjs at Washinfjton at that time. Mr. Adams and Mr. 
Clay were among those " individuals who were supposed the 
wisest and best, the most discreet and patriotic of our citizens, 
a little while before ;" men whom the country delighted to 
honor, of whose public character it was proud, and for whose 
eminent services it was grateful; and yet, if the representa- 
tions of the opposition press and orators were true, they were 
the most infamous of men, unworthy to associate e\en with 
honorable thieves ! Such a sudden transformation of public 
men from eminence to infamy, from lofty patriots to the 
meanest panders of vice and pollution, was never before wit- 
nessed, and could have been effected only by " the necromancy 
of party." 

But of abuse and vilification the opposition did not enjo}' 
an entire monopoly. These ignoble and disreputable weapons 
were common to both parties. General Jackson was assailed 
by whatever it was supposed would operate against him, true 
or false ; and probably truth itself was so distorted as to become 
falsehood. Among other things, both he and Mrs. Jackson 
were held up to scorn on account of his having taken her from 
her husband, Mr. Roberts, aided her to obtain a divorce, pro- 

8 



114 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



tected her while doing so, and married her immediately upon 
its being obtained. 

The " Coffin Handbill," put forth by Mr. Binns, of Phila- 
delphia, which made such a sensation at the time, is still re- 
membered by some now living, and has been heard of by 
hundreds born since that day. 

General Jackson had caused six militia-men to be executed, 
whose offense was starting for their homes in Tennessee at 
the expiration of their terms of enlistment. True, their terms, 
and those of a large portion of his force, had expired ; but he 
was not in a condition to dispense with their services, and 
must retain them until reinforced. Six, however, left, were 
followed, arrested, tried, condemned, and executed as a terror 
to others. 

A pictorial handbill represented these six men hanging on 
the gallows, with six pretty large and very black coffins be- 
neath them. The lamentable story of their execution for wish- 
ing to return to their families was told in print, emphasized by 
the illustrations. It was supposed that these handbills, which 
were scattered over the country, would produce a great sen- 
sation and effect. They did so, — but were like the gun repre- 
sented by Hudibras, which, shot at plover, kicked its owner 
over. The sensation and effect were all against the authors of 
these handbills, which became extensively known as " the 
Coffjn Handbills." 

The executions of Arbuthnot and Ambrister in Florida, by 
General Jackson, were also attempted to be used against him; 
nor were his killing of Dickinson in a duel, his desperate fight 
with the two brothers Benton, Colonel and Jesse, his quarrel 
with Judge Fromentin at Pensacola, and many other of his acts, 
forgotten. But while the assaults upon Mr. Adams and his 
administration told with damaging effect, those upon General 
Jackson only increased the popular enthusiasm which per- 
vaded the country and was bearing him on to the Presidential 
seat. 



THE PAXAMA QUESTIOy. H^ 

OPENING OF THE WAR OX THE ADMINISTRATION UPON THE 

PANAMA QUESTION. 

The opposition opened its batteries upon the administration 
early in the first session of the Nineteenth Congress, upon the 
proposition to send ministers to the congress to be held at 
Panama. The debate upon this, both in the Senate and in the 
House of Representatives, was one of the warmest and the most 
protracted that had occurred in either body for many years. In 
the Senate it lasted over two months, and called into requisition 
all the ability and resources of the ablest members on both sides. 
It was strictly partisan, and the language of the speakers was 
piquant, though not personal, for personalities were not at that 
day used to give force to argument instead of reason and illus- 
tration. It must be presumed the debate took a wide range 
from the fact that a number of Senators occupied two or three 
days in delivering their respective speeches against the measure ; 
though those in reply were much more brief In the Senate 
the attacking party were Messrs. Randolph, Van Buren, Hugh 
L. White, Hayne, Benton, Macon of North Carolina, Berrien 
and Cobb of Georgia, Woodbury, and Dickerson. On the 
other side were Messrs. Lloyd of Massachusetts, Edwards of 
Connecticut, Robbins of Rhode Island, Harrison of Ohio, 
Barton of Missouri, Bouligny and Johnson of Louisiana, and 
Thomas of Illinois. In the House the principal speakers 
against it were Messrs. McDuffie, Forsyth, Cambreling, Bu- 
chanan, Ingham, Stevenson, and others. Opposed: Messrs. 
Webster, Everett, John Davis, Crowningshield, Dwight, Peleg 
Sprague, Tristam Burgess, Henry R. Storrs, Charles Fenton 
Mercer, Joseph Vance, Samuel F. Vinton, John C. Wright, 
Robert P. Letcher, Thomas Metcalf, Wm. L. Brent, Daniel P. 
Cook, and others. 

But what was the proposition of the administration which 
called forth such determined opposition? What was the pur- 
pose of this Panama convention ? In a message sent to the 
Senate on the 25th of December, 1825, nominating Richard C. 
Anderson, of Kentucky, and John Sergeant, of Pennsylvania, 
as envoys and ministers, and Wm. B. Rochester, of New York,. 



Il6 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

as secretary to the ministers, Mr. Adams defines the objects of 
this mission to be — i. The adoption of principles of maritime 
neutrahty, and favorable to navigation and commerce in time 
of war ; 2. The doctrine that free ships make free goods ; 3. An 
agreement between all the parties represented that each will 
guard, by its own means, against the establishment o{ any future 
European colony zuitJiin its borders, — in other words, agree to 
enforce "the Monroe doctrine," promulged two years before; 
4. The advancement of religious liberty. 

As a reason for the last object, the President states that 
"some of the southern nations are, even }'et, so far under the 
dominion of prejudice that they have incorporated with their 
political constitutions an exclusive church, without toleration 
of any other than the dominant sect." At the same time it 
was distinctly understood that no entangling alliances were to 
be entered into, and that there was to be no departure from 
that strict neutrality which has ever been our fixed policy. 

The opposition saw, or professed to see, in this mission, or 
its objects, something extremely dangerous to liberty and re- 
publican government, — a tendency to monarchy ; an assump- 
tion of power hitherto unprecedented. But, while this very 
animated, and even heated, debate was going on at the Capitol, 
the country was never more calm and unconcerned. The 
"Telegraph," the organ of the opposition at the seat of govern- 
ment, and the " Richmond Inquirer" might proclaim, daily, in 
well-feigned tones of alarm, that " a great contest was going 
on between Power and Liberty, Patronage and the Ballot- 
box;" that "a great change was taking place in our system, 
which will end in monarchy;" that " Mr. Adams's policy was 
ambitious, daring, and dangerous," and that he was supported 
by every " Hartford Convention" press. The people could 
not be aroused, or made to believe they were sleeping over 
a political abyss into which they were every moment liable 
to be plunged. It was, indeed, puzzling to them to know 
what it all meant; in truth, they cared not a fig whether a 
deputation was sent to Panama or not. 

Considering what has since been said of the " Monroe doc- 
trine," and the great importance that has been, and is, often 



RESOLUTION TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION. jj-^ 

attached to it, it appears passing strange that the proposition 
to make Mr. Monroe's declaration — or " doctrine" — the subject 
of consideration at the Panama convention, with a view " to 
make effectual the assertion of that principle, as well as the 
means of resisting interference from abroad with the domestic 
concerns of the American governments," should have been one 
of the grounds of opposition to the convention. It was urged 
that this would be imitating the " Holy Alliance," and chal- 
lenging them to do what Mr. Monroe had declared we could 
not, with unconcern, see any European nation do. 

It is proper to say that Southern gentlemen saw, or professed 
to sec, danger to their "peculiar institution" in this movement, 
as they apprehended that one object of this convention would 
be to. adopt means to bring about a revolution and the aboli- 
tion of slavery in Cuba and other West India islands, slavery 
having been abolished in all the South American states that had 
shaken off the yoke of Spain. This, of course, was enough to 
bring out all the fiery eloquence of the Southern Hotspurs to 
"prepare the hearts of the people" of that portion of the Union 
"for war" upon the administration. 

The friends of the administration in the Senate finally tri- 
umphed by confirming the nominations of ministers by a few 
votes. Mr. Seaton, in his letter to Colonel Johnson, dated 
April 1 8, 1827, of which I have before spoken, says that a Sen- 
ator, — understood to be Mr. Van Buren, — "on being rallied on 
the triumph of the administration party on the Panama mission, 
replied, ' Yes ; they have beaten us by a fezu votes, after a Jiard 
battle ; but if thev had only taken the other side, and 

REFUSED the MISSION, WE SHOULD HAVE HAD THEM !' " 

MR. m'dUFFIE's RESOLUTION TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION. 

FIERCE DEBATE THEREON. HE ATTEMPTS TO PROVOKE A 

DUEL. 

While the debate upon the Panama mission was going on in 
the Senate, an equally important and far more spirited and acri- 
monious one was carried on in the House of Representatives. 
Mr. McDuffie, one of the leaders of the opposition in that body, 
and decidedly the most violent and aggressive speaker arrayed 



Il8 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

against the administration, introduced a resolution to amend the 
Constitution so as to elect the President and Vice-President by 
districts, by the direct vote of the people, and that no person 
should hold the office of President more than one term. It was 
not disguised that this was a direct attack upon the administra- 
tion : it was distinctly charged that the late election of President 
by the House of Representatives was a fraud upon the people ; 
that it was accomplished by " bargain and corruption," and a 
"coalition" between Adams and Clay; and it was urged that the 
Constitution should be so altered that the people themselves 
should elect the President by a direct vote. The speakers in 
this debate took a wide range, indulged in great freedom and 
asperity of remark, and manifested a heat and acerbity indicative 
of personal disappointment and revenge. It became, therefore, a 
sort of Homeric conflict, or a hand-to-hand fight. Mr. McDuffie 
put forth his whole strength, and called out all the powers of 
his impassioned eloquence. He was the leader, and ably did 
he justify his title to that distinction. 

He was replied to, first by Henry R. Storrs, of Utica, N.Y., 
a most accomplished speaker, quick and ready in debate, of fine, 
commanding presence, splendid voice, and polished manners. 
No personal asperities ever gave piquancy to his sentences ; no 
language escaped him that did not become a high-toned gen- 
tleman and the representative of an enlightened constituency. 
His scimitar was keen, but it was polished, and could not but 
be admired even by those who saw its flashes and felt its sharp- 
ness. And be it remembered that, as members of Congress 
debated in those days, their weapons must be ready at a moment's 
notice. True, they took time to prepare for a long speech, 
either of attack or of reply; but they would have been laughed 
out of the House had they come into the hall with, and at- 
tempted to read, a written speech. Tout ccla est change. A 
member now is not compelled to draw on his brains for thoughts, 
arguments, wit, and illustrations, but may draw on di friend ^.nd 
procure them ready written out for reading, or draw a speech, 
or a dull essay, from his pocket, and, without reading, have it 
published in the "Globe" as his speech. 

Mr. Everett, of Massachusetts, also replied to Mr. McDuffie 



RESOLUTION TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION. 



119 



in an elaborate, argumentative, classical speech, which fully sus- 
tained his high reputation as an orator, scholar, and statesman. 

Mr. McDuffie rejoined to Mr. Everett, and in doing so in- 
dulged in the most intemperate and virulent accusations against 
Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay, personally, ever listened to in that 
hall. It is impossible to conceive of a more vituperative out- 
pouring of gall and wormwood than was witnessed on that 
occasion. 

This abuse of Mr. Clay, and, b}' implication, of Mr. Clay's 
friends who voted with him for Mr. Adams as President, 
elicited a reply from General Vance, of Ohio. 

General Vance was a man of noble aspect : tall, portly, and 
athletic, — a true son of the West; born and reared on the verge 
of civilization, and accustomed from boyhood to toil, privation, 
rough life, the rifle, and the Indian. He knew the people well, 
for he was one of them, and they knew and loved him. No 
man was more esteemed and beloved in the House by his 
fellow-members. 

Although naturally quiet and sedate, by no means vehement 
in his language or boisterous in his deliver)', he could be severe 
without being personal or malevolent. Not content to stand 
altogether on the defensive, he carried the war into Africa, 
gathering up the shafts of his adversary and hurling them back 
with a force and precision that made him wince. After indig- 
nantly repelling the charge of intrigue, bargain, and corruption, 
reiterated by Mr. McDuffie against Mr. Clay and his friends, 
himself among the number, in relation to the Presidential elec- 
tion, and showing that after Mr. Crawford had become inca- 
pacitated by paralysis they had no other course than to support 
Mr. Adams or General Jackson, whom they could not support ; 
after showing who many of the men now so malignantly assailed 
were, and the heroic part they had borne in the War of 18 12, — 
their sufferings, privations, labor, fortitude, and courage, — he 
went into a review of some things of the past, which were by 
no means pleasant to the ears of Mr. Calhoun's friends. There 
was no bitterness of language, no noisy denunciation of any one, 
no pounding of his desk. — a la McDuffie, — but quiet allusions 
were made retaliatory of Mr. McDuffie's charges, which showed 



120 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

the latter that while he was hurhng missiles at Mr. Clay and 
his friends, his own and his friends' armor was not impene- 
trable. The severity of General Vance's remarks and allusions 
provoked a quasi challenge from Mr. McDuffie, to which Gen- 
eral Vance replied that he had no life to throw away ; that he 
harbored no malice and sought no revenge. 

Thus baffled, and unable to provoke General Vance to anger, 
Mr. McDuffie became still more inflamed and personal. "Now, 
sir, once for all," he exclaimed, in a passion, " I give the Sec- 
retar}- of State [Mr. Clay] to understand that when he wishes 
to avoid the responsibility of repelling imputations upon his 
character, and chooses to send his minions and tools and under- 
strappers to utter insolence and scurrility on this floor, I shall 
not feel bound to notice them, /// a certain zvay, until he com- 
missions men who have, at least, the semblance of gentlemen !" 

This ebullition of splenetic vulgarity, bad temper, and bluster 
was intended to overwhelm General Vance, whose calm self- 
possession it did not in the least disturb, and whose courage 
was too well tested and established during the War of 1812, by 
feats of bravery and gallantry, to render it necessary that he 
should accept the challenge of a blustering Gascon to avoid 
the stigma of cowardice. 

"But," continued Mr. McDuflie, "I should be willing, in 
order to avoid any possible imputation on my personal honor, 
to admit that they are gentlemen, pro forvia, and for that occa- 
sion merely, though in point of fact they have no pretension to 
that character." 

It will be seen hereafter that Mr. McDuffie was soon afforded 
an opportunity to display his vaunted fighting propensities, 
when he deemed " discretion the better part of valor," and 
showed a wise repugnance to face a Kentucky rifle in the hands 
of an old Kentucky hunter. 

Mr. McDuffie may have supposed that in offering and sup- 
porting a resolution to amend the Constitution so as to prevent 
any person from holding the office of President more than one 
term, he was acting in accordance with the President's views, 
since this principle had been proclaimed by General Jackson, 
and became well understood by his supporters during his can- 



RESOLUTION TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION. 121 

didacy. Especially was it so understood and insisted by Mr. 
Calhoun's friends, as they expected Mr. Calhoun to succeed 
General Jackson in 1832. 

Moreover, in accordance with this understanding, the Presi- 
dent, in his first annual message, December 8, 1829, said, "I 
would, therefore, recommend such an amendment of the Con- 
stitution as may remove all intermediate agency in the election 
of President and Vice-President. The mode may be so regu- 
lated as to preserve to each State its present relative weight in 
the election ; and a failure in the first attempt may be provided 
for by confining the second to a choice between the two highest 
candidates. In connection with such an amendment, it would 
seem advisable to limit the services of the chief magistrate to a 
single term of eitJicj' foiir or six years!' 

In his second annual message, December 7, 1830, General 
Jackson refers to his recommendation in his preceding message, 
and adds, " I cannot too earnestly invite your attention to the 
propriety of promoting such amendment of the Constitution as 
will render him [the President] ineligible after one term of 
service." 

In his third annual message he said, " I have heretofore 
recommended amendments of the federal Constitution, giving 
the election of President and Vice-President to the people, and 
limiting the service of the former to a single term. So im- 
portant do I consider these changes in our fundamental law, 
that I cannot, in accordance with my sense of duty, omit to 
press them upon the consideration of a new Congress." 

No report was made upon Mr. McDufifie's resolutions at this 
time. A committee was constituted the next year, to whom 
they were referred, and on the 22d of December, 1830, Mr. 
McDuffie, chairman, reported the following joint resolution : 

"Resolved, That the following amendment of the Constitution 
of the United States be proposed to the several States, to be 
valid to all intents and purposes as part of the said Constitution 
when ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the said 
States, viz. : 

" ' No person shall hereafter be eligible to the office of Pres- 
ident of the United States who shall have been previously 



122 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

elected to the said office, and who shall have accepted the same 
or exercised the powers thereof.' " 

Mr. McDuffie's resolutions, coming to a vote on the 5th of 
March, 1831, failed to pass by a two-thirds majority of the 
House, — failed, because other schemes had entered the heads 
of the Jackson men : namely, to run " the old Roman" for an- 
other term. Mr. Lewis, General Jackson's most trusted friend, 
had already laid a plan to have the general renominated by the 
Legislature of Pennsylvania, which was easily accomplished, 
and which was a flank movement against those who would 
hold the general to his avowed principle of limiting the 
service of any one man in the Presidency to a single term. 
Mr. Lewis's movement will be seen hereafter.* 

But thou":h Mr. McDuffie's amendment failed to obtain the 
requisite two-thirds of the House, his purpose was, in part, 
obtained. He had made a fierce assault upon the administra- 
tion, and sent abroad his charges over the whole country, giving 
the cue to the opposition presses, raising a general clamor, and 
putting the administration on the defensive. Whether his accu- 
sations were true or false, whether the administration were 
guilty or not guilty, he knew there are always those ready to 
condemn upon accusations boldly made and oft repeated though 
wholly destitute of truth. Indeed, there are never wanting in 
any community those who are prone to believe evil reports of 
others, and would rather not be convinced that such reports 
are false and malicious, especially if made against men in power. 

Little dreamed this fiery Southron that all his impassioned 
eloquence and frenzied denunciations were to inure, not to the 
benefit of his friend Mr. Calhoun, but to thfe benefit of those 
who would thrust Mr. Calhoun aside and wrest from him the 
coveted prize, the Presidency, now almost within his grasp ; 
that even then, perhaps, the unsuspected intriguer was medi- 
tating the means of accomplishing a coiil^ dc main upon him 
with whom he was now lovingly laboring to overthrow the 
administration. 

* Thus, while the President was uri^ing the adoption of the one-term principle, 
his most trusted friend was preparing the way for his re-election ! Was he ignorant 
of this movement, and did he discountenance it? Crcdat yiidicus. 



DUEL BETWEEN MR. RANDOLPH AND MR. CLAY. 123 

But such is political life. Such it was then, such it is 
now, such it ever will be. Politicians are grateful for services 
expected. The value of a political friend — it is a desecration of 
the word so to use it — consists in what he can and will do, not 
in what he Jias done. 

DUEL BETWEEN MR. RANDOLPH AND MR. CLAV. 

Exciting events crowd themselves into the period of which I 
am speaking. While the very animated debate was going on 
in the Senate upon the Panama mission, and in the House 
upon Mr. McDuffie's resolutions to amend the Constitution, 
a personal affair arose between Mr. Randolph and Mr. Clay. 
Mr. Randolph, it is well known, indulged in great liberties 
of speech, and hurled his barbed shafts right and left, re- 
gardless, apparently, whom they hit, or intending probably 
to hit every opponent of importance enough to become his 
mark. 

In his speech in opposition to the mission to Panama, in one 
of his heated outbursts he designated the union of Mr. Adams 
and Mr. Clay as "the coalition of Blifil and Black George, — the 
combination, unheard of till then, of the Puritan and the black- 
leg." This language, which charged Mr. Clay with being a 
blackleg, was very insulting ; but Mr. Randolph also virtually 
charged Mr. Clay with forging a certain dispatch which pur- 
ported to have been written and addressed to him by a foreign 
minister; and Mr. Randolph refusing to make any retraction 
of these charges or give any explanation of his language, Mr. 
Clay had no other alternative than to call him to the field. 
General Jessup bore the challenge as Mr. Clay's friend, and Mr. 
Tatnall, of Georgia, acted as the friend of Mr. Randolph. The 
injury complained of by Mr. Clay, as stated b}- General Jessup 
in his note to ]\Ir. Tatnall, was " in this : that Mr. Randolph has 
charged him with having forged or manufactured a paper con- 
nected with the Panama mission ; also, that he has applied to 
him in debate the epithet of blackleg. The explanation which 
I consider necessary is, that Mr. Randolph declare that he had 
no intention of charging Mr. Clay, either in his public or priv^ate 
capacity, with forging or falsif)-ing any paper, or misrepresent- 



124 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



ing any fact ; and, also, that the term blackleg was not intended 
to apply to him." 

To this Mr. Tatnall replied, "Mr. Randolph informs me that 
the words used by him in debate were as follows: 'That I 
thought it would be in my power to show evidence sufficiently 
presumptive to satisfy a Charlotte (county) jury that this invi- 
tation was manufactured here, — that Mr. Salazar's letter struck 
me as bearing a strong likeness in point of style to the other 
papers.* I did not undertake to prove. this, but expressed my 
suspicion that it was so. I applied to the administration the 
epithet puritanic, — diplomatic, — blacklegged administration.' 
Mr. Randolph, in giving these words as those uttered in debate, 
is unwilling to afford any explanation as to their meaning or 
application." 

The meeting took place on the 8th of April, 1826. There 
was an exchange of shots; Mr. Clay's ball cutting Mr. Ran- 
dolph's coat near the hip, and Mr. Randolph's striking a 
stump in the rear of and nearly in a line with Mr. Clay, 
Another was required by Mr. Clay. Mr. Randolph received 
the fire of his antagonist, raised his pistol and fired in the air, 
saying, " I do not fire at you, Mr. Clay," and immediately ad- 
vanced and offered his hand. " He was met," says Colonel 
Benton, who was present, "in the same spirit. They met half- 
way and shook hands, Mr. Randolph saying, jocosely, 'You 
owe me a coat, Mr. Clay' (the bullet had passed through the 
skirt of the coat near the hip), to which Mr. Clay promptly and 
happily replied, ' I am glad the debt is no greater.' " 

"The joy of all," says Colonel Benton, "was extreme at this 
happy termination of a most critical affair, and we immediately 
left, with lighter hearts than we brought." 

Colonel Benton concludes this account as follows : 

" On Monday the parties exchanged cards, and social rela- 
tions were formally and courteously restored. It was about the 
last high-toned duel that I have witnessed, and among the 
highest-toned I have ever witnessed, and so happily conducted 
to a fortunate issue, — a result due to the noble character of 

* The implication was that Mr. Clay manufactured a letter purporting to be 
addressed to him by Mr. Salazar, Minister from Colombia. 



yOHX RANDOLPH. 1 25 

the seconds, as well as to the generous and heroic spirit of 
the principals. Certainly dueling is bad, and has been put 
down, but not quite so bad as its substitute, — revolvers, 
bowie-knives, blackguarding, and street-assassinations under 
the pretext of self-defense." 

JOHN RANDOLPH. 

Who has not heard of " John Randolph of Roanoke" ? 
A man of extraordinary powers of mind ; possessed of a 
wonderful fund of information of every kind, which he dealt 
out in an extraordinary manner; of extraordinary habits and 
eccentricities, and of extraordinary personal appearance. A 
professed republican, yet an enthusiastic admirer of the British 
government, British aristocracy, English horses, and English 
books, — everything, indeed, English. He would not have in 
his possession an American book, not even an American Bible. 
Professedly a Republican, he opposed the measures and admin- 
istration of every Republican President, — Jefferson, Madison, 
and Monroe, — and bitterly the administration and measures of 
both the elder and the younger Adams. It seemed impossible 
for him to agree with any one. If the House, or Senate, were 
engaged in debating a bill or measure of any kind, and he got 
the floor, ten to one he would not allude to the subject of debate 
in a three or four hours' speech, but would discuss "everything 
and all things besides." He had stores of learning, was quick 
at repartee, sarcastic, bitter, misanthropic ; indulged in person- 
alities, and rambled everywhere, "through field and flood, brier, 
brake, and wood," throwing his shafts right and left, hitting 
promiscuously those around him as well as those absent ; 
nothing was too grave or sacred, nothing too trivial, to be 
brought into his speeches. In his rambles over the fields of 
history, sacred and profane, ancient and modern, biography, 
poetry, and politics, he gathered and scattered fruit, flowers, 
precious stones, and worthless pebbles. To listen to one of 
his interminable harangues was at once a rich repast and a 
tedious task. To report him was impossible. His transitions 
from one subject to another, the two having no relation to 
each other, were so sudden and frequent that no reporter 



126 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

could have followed him, especially as he spoke rapidly, and his 
parenthetical sentences, thrown between the noun and the verb, 
were so long and frequent that the two parts of speech appeared 
to have no relation the one to the other. Indeed, it not unfre- 
quently occurred that he would commence a sentence, but, some 
other idea crossing his mind, would leave it unfinished, — a noun 
without a verb, — and rush on in an opposite direction from 
that he first took, and before he sat down would have boxed 
the compass many times. To attempt to follow the thread of 
his discourse would be to attempt to follow the thread of the 
spider in its already-formed web. It was not one thread, but 
a thousand. Woe to any member who called him to order! 
if he did not receive a shaft at the moment, it was sure to 
come, and that when it was least looked for ; very likely it 
w'ould be thrown as the Australian throws his boomerang: 
aimed, apparently, at an object in front, the boomerang flies in 
that direction for a space, when it suddenly turns, comes back, 
and hits the real object in the rear of the thrower. Down 
would come the Randolph ian boomerang upon the head of some 
luckless member who least expected it, and who was perhaps 
watching its flight in another direction, as he supposed, towards 
some other object. 

There was a member in Congress from Maine who became 
so famous for calling the "previous question" as to acquire 
the sobriquet of " Previous Question Cushman." He had 
greatly annoyed Mr. Randolph, who, in one of his long 
harangues, spoke of the great mechanical ingenuity of the 
Germans, and gave an account of some of the clocks made by 
them, in which were automatic birds that would come out and 
sing, or figures of men which would perform various and 
curious antics, make a bow, and retire. There was one that 
especially attracted his attention : it was a clock out of which 
the figure of a man — looking at the doomed member — would 
frequently pop up, cry out, " Previous question !" " previous 
question !" and then pop down again out of sight. The 
boomerang hit the mark ; the House burst into a roar of 
laughter ; but poor Mr. " Previous Question" was never seen 
or heard afterwards, and the place in the House that had known 



JOHN RANDOLPH. 1 27 

him for several years, knew him no more forever after that 
session. 

But Mr. Randolph was not always so fortunate in killing 
the game he attacked, and sometimes came off " second best." 
Among those he came in conflict with was Mr. Tristam Bur- 
gess, of Rhode Island, an " ugly customer," as many a lawyer 
in his own State could testify, — one not to be intimidated by 
or to shun an encounter with even " John Randolph of Roa- 
noke." He was just the man for a slander suit, a case of crim. 
con. or divorce, and similar cases, especially for the defense. 
He could bully and browbeat, perplex, entangle, and bother a 
witness till he could hardly tell what he had sworn to or what 
he really knew, and could black-ball his client's opponent until 
he made him almost hideous to himself He had unbounded 
audacity; nothing could abash him, — not even a reprimand 
from the court. Was it likely that such a man would quail 
before that " spook" of a man, whose face put you in doubt 
whether he were a white man or an Indian, and whose squeak- 
ing voice might be taken for that of a woman or a boy, or" who 
might be mistaken for an ape walking on stilts" ? Both soon 
understood that their natures were as incompatible as their 
politics wxre adverse, and that they would necessarily " lock 
horns." In every assemblage of animals, whether of the genus 
homo, " those that cleave the hoof," or those that do not, if 
they are any length of time together, contests for mastery will 
take place, until it is settled who, or which, shall be master. 
Turn any number of horses, mules, or cattle into a )-ard where 
there are others, and a conflict will soon ensue to settle which 
shall drive all the rest. And so it was when Mr. Burgess 
entered the body where John Randolph had found no one but 
Mr. Clay who could cope with him, though the hands of all 
were against him, as his were against all. 

Those who were in Congress at that time, or were spectators 
in the galleries, have a vivid recollection of the encounters be- 
tween these eminent gladiators, and the sharp words uttered by 
them. Mr. Randolph's weapon was the fme-tempered rapier 
of sarcasm : it flashed and penetrated like an electric bolt, and 
left a sting behind, if it did not kill. Mr. Burgess, on the other 



J 28 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

hand, dealt his blows with a tomahawk, a battle-axe, or a broad- 
sword, either of which was more effective from its force than 
from its keenness. In one of these encounters, it is well re- 
membered, Mr. Burgess, after characterizing Mr. Randolph 
and likening him to some hideous monster, exclaimed, " But, 
thank God, Mr. Speaker, monsters cannot perpetuate their 
species !" alluding to the generally-received opinion that Mr. 
Randolph could never be a father. 

When Mr. Randolph came to reply, he said, " Mr. Speaker, 
the gentleman makes a boast of his virility : he boasts of that 
in which the goat is his equal, and the jackass his superior." 

" There were giants in those days." Their weapons were 
drawn impromptu from the armory of a well-supplied brain, — 
not wrapped up in paper and carried in the pocket. Mr. Ran- 
dolph was tall and very slender; his body short in proportion 
to his legs, so that when he was sitting or riding he appeared 
to be below medium height. He rode much on horseback, 
always followed, forty paces in the rear, by his faithful servant 
Juba, who, like his master, rode a fine blooded horse. Each 
had his own, and neither ever rode the other's. He frequently 
rode to the House and entered the hall with whip and spur, 
and sometimes, but rarely, with his dogs. 

Mr. Randolph undoubtedly had the most exalted notions of 
honor and propriety, and, with all his eccentricities and personal 
sarcasms, he had a manly, generous disposition, and could make 
the auioide honorable, where he felt it to be due, in a princely 
manner. 

In his duel with Mr. Clay he had previously told Colonel 
Benton that he did not intend to fire at Mr. Clay. Why? Be- 
cause he felt that he had done him an injury, and, according to 
the notions which governed all Southern men at that time, Mr. 
Clay could not do otherwise than call him out. In doing this 
Mr. Clay retained Mr. Randolph's respect; had he not done it, 
he would have lost it. After Mr. Clay had fired the second 
time, Mr. Randolph, saying, " Mr. Cla)^, I do not fire at you," 
stepped forward and tendered his hand with the jocose remark 
I have already given. This was true chivalry, and it put an 
end to the quarrel. Mr. Randolph did not say that he regretted 



JOHN RANDOLPH. I2q 

making the insulting remark concerning Mr. Clay, but his actions 
spoke louder than words, and were well understood by Mr. Clay. 

Mr. Randolph prided himself on the fact that he had ro}'al 
blood in his veins, being in some way a descendant of Princess 
Pocahontas, to whom Captain John Smith owed his life. His 
complexion and features bore testimony to the fact that he was 
part Indian; and his brilliant intellect, his morbid sensibilities, 
and his incomprehensible idiosyncrasy may have come more 
from his Indian than from his Anglo-Saxon ancestors. 

Arriving at Washington, on his way to Philadelphia for 
medical aid, and hearing that Mr. Clay was addressing the 
Senate on some important subject, he had himself taken to the 
Senate-chamber and laid down on a sofa in the rear of and 
near the Senator, whose voice, he said, he wished to hear once 
more. As Mr. Clay closed, seeing Mr. Randolph, he immedi- 
ately accosted him in the most friendly manner, and inquired 
after his health. "Dying, sir, dying," Mr. Randolph replied; 
" and I came here expressly to have this interview with you." 
They grasped hands, and remained silent for some time, each 
shedding tears. 

Mr. Clay was moved at this manifestation of regard from his 
old antagonist, now his friend, and the more so as it was 
evident that Mr. Randolph had made a great effort to see and 
hear him once more, and that this would be his last visit to the 
Capitol and his last interview with Mr. Clay, as it proved to be. 
Can we wonder that two such men at such a moment, all the 
past rushing to their memories, all the future to them but a 
span, should turn from each other with tearful eyes ? Both 
had generous, noble hearts, and where there is a Jicart there 
will sometimes be a tear. 

The two great orators and statesmen, who had for twenty- 
five years met in the arena of the hall of the House of Repre- 
sentatives in many a keen encounter and upon the field in 
deadly conflict, parted forever as cordial friends. 



130 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVEN7S. 



WHY MR. CLAY WAS ELECTED SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRE- 
SENTATIVES ON THE FIRST DAY HE ENTERED IT AS A MEMBER. 

It is, or used to be, well known that an apparent rivalry or 
hostility existed between these two distinguished men from the 
moment they came together in the House of Representatives. 
From the first appearance of Mr. Clay in the House, Mr. Ran- 
dolph seemed to perceive, as if by instinct, that a member had 
appeared over whom he could not ride rough-shod, at least 
without a severe contest; and, as he had had it all his own 
way in that body for many years, it is quite in accordance with 
the workings of the human heart that he should feel a degree 
of hostility towards the new-comer, which was ere long mani- 
fested. 

It is unwritten history, except as it is recorded in the journals 
of Congress, that Mr. Clay was elected Speaker of the House 
of Representatives on the first day he entered that body as a 
member. Why so unusual an incident as this should have 
taken place I will relate as it was related to me by Jonathan 
Roberts, of Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Roberts said, " Near the close of the Fourteenth Con- 
gress, a number of members being together, the conversation 
turned upon the condition of the House, its irregularities, want 
of order and decorum, etc., which were lamented by all, and it 
was insisted that a reform must be effected. ' But how is this to 
be done?' asked one. ' By electing a Speaker who will enforce 
order,' replied another. 'Then it must be some man who can 
bridle John Randolph,' said a third, ' for he disregards all 
rules.' This was assented to by all. ' Then,' said one, ' he 
must be a man who can meet John Randolph on the floor or 
on the field, for he may have to do both.' This being assented 
to, ' But where is the man who can do this ?' it was asked. 
'I'll tell you,' said Mr. Roberts: 'young Harry Clay will be a 
member of the next House, and is the very man to do it.' All 
assented, and it was agreed that he should be elected Speaker 
of the next House, as he was, and brought about the reform 
which was expected of him. A collision between him and Mr. 
Randolph was inevitable, and occurred on several occasions." 



DEATH OF ADAMS AXD JEFFERSON. j -. j 



DEATH OF ADAMS AND JEFFERSON. 

On the 4th of July of this year, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary 
of our national independence, passed from earthly existence 
two of the most venerable and venerated characters in the 
nation; than whom no other two had performed a more impor- 
tant part in bringing about the entire separation of the colonies 
from England, and in framing the Declaration of Independence. 
The death of Adams and Jefferson on the same day, just fifty 
years from the day upon which they put their hands to that im- 
mortal paper and it was proclaimed to all the world that these 
United States were a free and independent nation, amid the 
ringing of bells, the firing of cannon*,. and the exulting shouts 
of the people, was a circumstance so extraordinary that it 
produced the most profound impression throughout the entire 
limits of the land, and even in foreign countries. 

Adams and Jefferson, two of the three survivors, on the morn- 
ing of the fiftieth anniversary of Independence, of that patriotic 
and immortal band who put their names to that instrument, had 
long been looked up to and venerated as the Fathers of the Re- 
public. Their names had been inseparably connected in the 
minds and upon the lips of the people, as their labors were 
united in bringing about the events of the Revolution and its 
final triumph. Mr. Jefferson was the writer, Mr. Adams the 
orator, of the Congress of '"j^. The one penned the Declaration 
of Independence, the other was pronounced "the pillar of its 
support, and its ablest advocate and defender." Mr. Jefferson 
called Mr. Adams " the colossus of the Congress ;" the most 
earnest, laborious member of the body, and its animating 
spirit. 

For the loss of these men, though they fell as a ripe shock 
of corn falleth, — both having arrived at an advanced age, Mr. 
Adams over ninety, — the whole nation clothed itself in mourn- 
ing, and its ablest orators were called upon to pronounce their 
eulogies : Mr. Webster in Boston, Mr. Everett in Charlestown, 
Chancellor Kent in New York, General Smith in Baltimore : in 
all the large cities, indeed, the ablest pens paid tribute to the 
memor}^ of the illustrious departed. One signer of the Decla 



1-2 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

ration of Independence was yet left, and only one : Charles 
Carroll, of Carrollton, the last sur\'ivor of that band of patriots 
who in placing their names to it put their lives and their for- 
tunes to the hazard of a die or the chances of war. 

"retrenchment and reform." 

In the first session of Congress after Mr. Adams's election — 
1825-26 — Mr. Macon moved in the Senate that the select com- 
mittee appointed upon Mr. Benton's resolutions in regard to the 
amendment of the Constitution should also be charged with an 
inquiry into the expediency of reducing the patronage of the 
Federal government, where it could be done without impairing 
its efficiency. The committee consisted of nine Senators ; all, 
save one, and he rather doubtful, were the friends of General 
Jackson, and opponents of Mr. Adams. 

The purpose undoubtedly was to operate on the public mind 
to the prejudice of the administration, and in favor of the Jack- 
son party, as the party in favor of reducing the Executive 
patronage, the number of officers of the government, and the 
public expenses ; conveying the idea, of course, that tJicy were 
tlie true friends of the people and opposed to all extravagance. 

Mr. Benton, from the committee, made an elaborate report, 
which was accompanied by six bills, namely : 

1 . To regulate the publication of the laws of the United States, 

and of the public advertisements. 

2. To secure in office the faithful collectors and disburscrs of 

the revenue, and to displace defaulters, 

3. To regulate the appointment of postmasters. 

4. To regulate the appointment of cadets. 

5. To regulate the appointment of midshipmen. 

6. To prevent military and naval officers from being dismissed 

the service at the pleasure of the President. 

Each of tlicse bills presupposes that there was an evil which 
was necessary to be corrected ; an abuse of power on the part 
of the Executive which an additional law was needed to arrest. 

In regard to bill No. I, — to regulate the publication of the 
laws, etc., — the ostensible reason for that was, that Mr. Clay, 



''RETRENCHMENT AND REFORMS to-, 

as Secretary of State, had, like all his predecessors, desig- 
nated the papers which should publish, " by authority," the 
laws of the United States, and in making this selection did not 
designate certain papers, which were violently opposed to, and 
denunciatory of, the administration, but which had previously 
published the laws by authority. 

Mr. Clay was fiercely assailed in the House on this account, 
Mr. Saunders, of North Carolina, offering a resolution calling 
upon him for the reasons for his action in the premises. This 
caused a warm debate, which lasted for several days. The 
resolution failed, sensible men, even though opposed to the ad- 
ministration, perceiving the absurdity of demanding reasons 
from him who was necessarily required to exercise his ov>n 
discretion in the matter. 

In regard to the second bill, — to secure in office faithful col- 
lectors, etc., — no collector had been removed by Mr. Adams, 
and there had been no instance of defalcation to require the 
I'emoval of a defaulter. 

Mr. Thompson, collector of customs of the port of New 
York, was known to be opposed to I\Ir. Adams and in favor 
of General Jacksgn ; and Mr. Adams's friends strenuously 
urged his removal ; but he peremptorily refused to comply 
with their request, though they assured him that if he acted 
on the policy of retaining his active opponents in office in that 
State he would surely lose it, — as he did. Mr. Thompson got 
his reward by being removed by General Jackson. Mr. Adams 
took the high ground in this case, as he did in that of Mr. 
McLean, Postmaster-General, that every man had a right to 
exercise and act upon his own opinion ; and if officers of the 
government believed General Jackson a more fit man for Presi- 
dent than himself, they were right in supporting him, and so 
long as they discharged the duties of their office faithfully he 
would not remove them. This would now be considered rather 
Quixotic purity. 

In regard to the other three bills, there was as little occasion 
for them in anything that had occurred under Mr. Adams's ad- 
ministration as there was for the others. 

Speaking of this report, which he says he wrote twenty-five 



134 



PUBLIC iVEX AND EVENTS. 



years ago, Colonel Benton says, in his " Thirty Years' View," 
"The crowds which congregate at Washington at every change 
of an administration, suppliants for office, are humiliating to 
behold, and threaten to change the contests of parties from a 
contest for principle into a struggle for plunder." 

Very true; but when did this begin? Who inaugurated 
this " spoils system" ? General Jackson himself, whom Colonel 
Benton supported with all his ability, energy, and industry. 

The second bill reported by the committee required " that 
in all nominations to fill vacancies occasioned by removals, the 
fact of the removal shall be stated, and the reasons for such 
removal given." This was intended to recognize the principle 
that, as appointments are made by the advice and consent of 
the Senate, that body should also be consulted in regard to 
removals, which Colonel Benton claims was the intention of 
the framers of the Constitution. These bills, however, were 
never acted on. Perhaps it would be uncharitable to suppose 
that it was never expected or intended they should be. 

Resolutions were subsequently introduced in the House by 
J\Ir. Chilton, of Kentucky, for the appointment of a special 
committee on " Retrenchment and Reform;" this being intended 
as a sort of Congressional indorsement and confirmation of the 
allegation of the Jackson press that monstrous " extravagance 
and corruption" prevailed at Washington, which called for the 
retrenching and reforming hand of Congress. 

Upon these resolutions — a part of the system of attacks to 
be made upon the administration — a protracted, heated, and 
ill-tempered debate ensued, during which all possible missiles 
were hurled at it, and absuixl and unfounded charges brought 
against it, calculated and intended to alarm and prejudice the 
people. 

It may surprise some at the present day to learn that the 
*' enormous expenditures' of Mr. Adams's administration, about 
which such a clamor was raised, were twelve million five hun- 
dred thousand dollars per annum ! 



''THE GORGEOUSLY FURNISHED EAST ROOM." j-,- 



"the gorgeously furnished east room." 

During the Presidential canvass a letter appeared in and ad- 
dressed to the " Richmond Inquirer," purporting to be written 
by "a distinguished member of Congress," who had just visited 
the White House, January i, 1827, and seen "the gorgeously 
furnished East Room," representing and giving the public to 
understand that Mr. Adams was living in a more princely 
manner than any President had ever lived in before, and that 
extravagant sums of the pulDlic money had been expended 
in "gorgeously" furnishing the Presidential mansion.* The 
letter made quite a sensation for a time, and served the un- 
manly purpose intended. It was an utter ////.^representation. 
The " gorgeous" furniture existed nowhere but in the imagi- 
nation of the writer. The East Room was at that time most 
meagerly furnished ; nay, not furnished at all. There were 
three marble-top centre-tables in the room, which remained 
there till a very few years ago ; but besides these and some 
mirrors there was not fifty dollars' worth of furniture in the 
room. There were no chandeliers, and the only mode of 
lighting the room was by sperm candles held in long tin 
candlesticks hung to nails driven into the walls. From these 
candles dripped the sperm upon the clothes of those who came 
under them, as I well know from experience, having several 
times got my coat besmeared with the drippings, as many 
other gentlemen did. Such was the "gorgeously finviishcd East 
Room" in the winter of 1828-9. 

The auther of this famous " East Room Letter" was reputed 
to be a United States Senator. It was in consonance with other 
means used to excite the prejudice of the people against Mr. 
Adams. 

GEORGIA AND THE CREEK CONTROVERSY. 

I have alluded to the difficulty that arose between Georgia 
and the Creek Indians, and the sharp correspondence between 
Governor Troup and General Gaines, who was sent by the 
general government to protect the Indians, 

* See Niles's Register, vol. xxxvii. p. 116, 



136 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

The governor assumed a very arrogant and imperious lone, 
not only towards General Gaines but towards the President and 
the general government, demanding that a treaty purporting to 
have been made at Indian Springs by the chiefs and head-men 
of the Creeks should be executed, and threatening to enter 
upon the Indian lands purporting to have been ceded by this 
treaty to Georgia, have them surveyed, and drive the Indians 
off. The treaty was undoubtedly a fraud ; its validity was 
denied by the real chiefs and head-men, and not recognized by 
the general government. General Gaines, being sent to protect 
the Indians and prevent a collision, necessarily had much cor- 
respondence with Governor Troup, which became excessively 
sharp and personal on both sides. In a letter to the President, 
complaining of General Gaines and other officers sent to 
Georgia, Governor Troup says, " Now, sir, suffer me in con- 
clusion to ask if these things have been done in virtue of your 
instructions, expressed or implied, or by authority of any war- 
rant from you whatever ; and if not so done, whether you will 
sanction and adopt them as your own, and thus hold yourself 
responsible to the government of Geoi-gia ?" 

The attitude of the governor during the whole of this con- 
troversy had been exceedingly imperious and insulting, as 
may be judged from the above language. His letters to General 
Gaines were of this character ; but the general in his replies 
showed that his pen was not less sharp than his sword, and 
that he could use the one with as much skill and effect as 
he could wield the other. 

The unjustifiable course pursued by Georgia to drive the In- 
dians off and get possession of their lands had given the general 
government much trouble. It was bound to protect the Indians 
against unjust claims and aggressions, and in the peaceable 
possession of their lands until relinquished by treaty, and such 
a treaty was greatly desired; but the impatience of Georgia, 
the fraudulent treaty effected by her at Indian Springs, and the 
constant threats of the governor that he would take forcible 
possession in spite of the general gov^ernment, very much em- 
barrassed the action of the latter. 

At length, however, the real chiefs and head-men of the 



THE JACKSON PARTY GAIN THE ASCENDENCY. 137 

nation were induced to come to Washington, where a treaty 
was made with them by which they gave up all their lands in 
Georgia and Alabama and took lands west of the Mississippi, 
where they still remain. 

THE JACKSON PARTY GAIN THE ASCENDENCY. 

So much prejudice had been excited against the admin- 
istration by the continued cries of " bargain and corruption," 
" extravagance," the cheating of General Jackson out of his 
election, and other clap-trap means of operating on the public 
mind, that the elections which took place in the fall of 1826 
for members of Congress resulted in a sweeping Jackson ma- 
jority in the House of Representatives, as there had been for 
two years in the Senate. 

General Jackson was represented as an Irishman ; or, if not 
himself, his father was. Of course the Irish were for him to 
a man. Nevertheless, very much the largest portion of the 
intelligent, sober, moral, exemplary citizens of the Northern, 
Eastern, Middle, and Western States — full four-fifths — were 
friends of the administration. 

The general was largely possessed of the elements of popu- 
larity : knew the people, and how, now and then, at proper 
times, to address them without seeming to do so. He knew 
the importance of keeping himself in their minds, — of being 
talked about, and even abused. Added to this was the fact 
that he had rendered services to the country which the most 
unlettered of the people could appreciate. He was a Jiero, — 
had won a great battle: there was, therefore, something in and 
about him to excite the imagination and stir up enthusiasm. 

On the other hand, there was nothing heroic or attractive 
in Mr. Adams. His name excited no enthusiasm ; he had no 
elements of popularity; even those who knew him personally 
were never inspired by any ardent feelings towards him, inas- 
much as he was cold, stiff, and reserved in his manner, which 
rather repelled than attracted. Ezekicl Webster spoke the 
truth when he wrote to his brother Daniel, in February, 1829, 
that " the people always supported Mr. Adams's course from 
a cold sense of duty, and not from any liking of the man. We 



I^S PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

soon satisfy ourselves that we have discharged our duty to the 
cause of any man, when we do not entertain for him one per- 
sonal kind feeling." 

A CHALLENGE, BUT NO DUEL. 

Party feeling ran high in Congress during the first session of 
the Twentieth Congress: the speeches, especially in the House 
of Representatives, were of a very heated and virulent char- 
acter. The Presidential election was to take place in the coming 
fall, and consequently the two parties were in the very heat of 
the great battle which was to decide which should have posses- 
sion of the government. So far as Congress could take part in 
this great battle, it was the last charge, the bayonet contest, the 
hand-to-hand encounter; and as one of the results of this state 
of things, a challenge to single combat was sent by Mr. Mc- 
Dufifie to Governor Metcalf, of Kentucky, the especial friend of 
Mr. Clay. The language of Mr. McDufifie, in his reply to Gen- 
eral Vance, which I have quoted, will be remembered. That 
language seemed maliciously designed to insult Mr. Clay, and 
probably had no little influence in shaping Governor Metcalf 's 
to Mr. McDuffie. The latter seemed to be impatient for a per- 
sonal conflict with Mr. Clay or some one of his friends, and it 
is evident that Governor Metcalf was disposed to accommodate 
him, but upon his (Governor Metcalf's) own terms. I may 
state it still more strongly: the correspondence between them, I 
think, shows a decided determination on the part of Governor 
Metcalf to compel Mr. McDuffie to challenge him. Of course 
the challenge came, and Governor Metcalf selected rifles as the 
weapons. But General Hamilton, Mr. McDuffie's friend, flatly 
refused to recognize the rifle as a proper dueling-weapon, and 
no duel ensued. 

Mr. McDuffie had the reputation of being "a dead shot" 
with the pistol, and hence, it is presumed, the determination of 
Governor Metcalf to draw the challenge from him, — the chal- 
lenged party having the right to name the weapons. No one 
can blame Mr. McDuffie for not wishing to face a rifle in the 
hands of a Kcntuckian, or Governor Metcalf for refusing to 
become a mark for a pistol in the hand of one who could use 



ABDUCTION OF WILLIAM MORGAN: 



139 



it with fatal skill. Probably the object which Governor Met- 
calf wished to accomplish was attained, — of silencing audacious 
personal abuse and putting a stop to gasconading. There were 
no more challenges after this, 

ABDUCTION OF WILLIAM MORGAN. — FORMATION OF THE ANTI- 
MASONIC PARTV. 

An extraordinary event took place in the western part of 
New York, in 1826, which created a most intense excitement 
among the people of the western counties, — Erie, Chautauqua, 
Niagara, Genesee, Monroe, Livingston, Orleans, and Ontario, 
— and finally in other parts of the State. William Morgan, a 
Mason, living at Batavia, had announced that he should pub- 
lish a book which would reveal the secrets of Masoniy. Instead 
of laughing at this pretended exposure as a joke or a humbug, 
— a mere catch-penny, — the Masons treated the matter very 
seriously, showing anger whenever the subject was mentioned, 
and making threats of injury to Morgan should he publish the 
book. It was published in spite of their threats and various 
forcible attempts to prevent it. 

Morgan was immediately arrested on some pretended crimi- 
nal charge brought against him by a party of men from Canan- 
daigua, where he was taken. On examination he was of course 
acquitted and discharged, but he was immediately again arrested 
for debt, and thrust into jail. This was done merely to keep 
possession of him until arrangements could be made to dis- 
pose of him otherwise. These being completed, he was dis- 
charged from jail, but was taken at once, after nine o'clock p.m., 
thrust into a close carriage, gagged and bound, and driven 
rapidly, by relays of horses, and finally lodged in the magazine 
of Fort Niagara, on the river of that name, at the head of Lake 
Ontario. 

His seizure and disappearance roused the people of Batavia 
and other places. Public meetings were held and committees 
appointed to ascertain and make known all the facts of this 
mysterious outrage upon a citizen against whom no crime 
was or could be alleged. These committees ascertained that 
he had been taken, as I have mentioned, from Canandaigua 



I40 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



towards Rochester, but could not trace him, at that time, any 
farther. 

His disappearance, and the mystery attending it, his un- 
known fate, and the suspicions that were created by the Masons 
justifying these outrageous proceedings, impressed upon the 
pubHc mind the behef that he had been murdered, and created 
an excitement which became ahnost a frenzy. 

Meanwhile, the perseverance of those who sought to unravel 
the mystery was crowned with at least partial success. They 
became satisfied that Morgan had been confined in Fort Niag- 
ara for a time, and had finally been taken out in a boat upon 
the river and dropped in, with a cannon-ball attached to his feet. 
That he was thus disposed of was afterwards proved before a 
special court held at Lockport, by Judge Marcy, appointed for 
that special purpose, under an act of the Legislature of New 
York, authorizing a .special court to be held for the trial of 
those implicated in this nefarious transaction. Some convic- 
tions were made and punishments inflicted ; but, best of all, the 
whole transaction from beginning to end was judicially laid 
open, and the intense desire of the public to know the facts 
gratified. 

In consequence of this feeling which had arisen towards 
Masonry and Masons, there were, for many years, no Masonic 
celebrations. The appearance of a Masonic procession in full 
regalia in almost any part of the Northern States would prob- 
ably have. raised a mob: it certainly would in any one of the 
western counties of New York. 

Soon after the death of IMorgan, and when the excitement 
was at fever-heat, a few gentlemen met at a room, or office, in 
"the Kremlin," a building so called, in Buffalo, and then and 
there initiated the "Anti-Masonic party," which soon became 
a powerful organization in New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, 
and some other States. To this party Mr. Seward, of New 
York, and Mr. Ritner, of Pennsylvania, owed their elections as 
governors of their respective States. 



yACKSOiY'S CHARGE OF BRIBERY AND CORRURTION. j^j 



GENERAL JACKSON CHARGES MR. ADAMS AND MR. CLAY WITH 

BARGAIN AND CORRUPTION. CARTER BEVERLY'S LETTER. MR. 

clay's DENIAL. — DEMANDS THE NAME OF THE WITNESS. 

GENERAL JACKSON REPLIES, AND GIVES THE NAME OF JAMES 
BUCHANAN AS HIS AUTHOR. 

I have given a very brief account of the charge of " bargain 
and corruption" gotten up against Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay 
at the time of, and subsequent to, the election of the former 
as President by the House of Representatives, in February, 
1825, and the part played by Mr. Buchanan at that time. Up to 
the 5th of June, 1827, no one was responsible for this charge : it 
was made in such a way that neither Mr. Clay nor Mr. Adams 
could fix the authorship upon any one. But now General Jack- 
son made the charge at his own house, before all his company, 
and thus assumed its authorship. The contest between the 
Adams party and the Jackson party was carried on at this time 
with great virulence: consequently General Jackson's charge 
produced a profound sensation. It came out in this manner. 
In a letter addressed to and published in the " Fayettcville 
(N. C.) Observer," by Carter Beverly, dated March 8, 1827, he 
says, — 

" I have just returned from General Jackson's. I found a 
crowd of company with him. . . . He told me this morning, 
before all Iiis covipany, in reply to a question I put to him 
concerning the election of J. Q. Adams to the Presidency, that 
Mr. Clay's friends made a proposition to his friends that if they 
would promise for ///';// )tot to put Mr. Adams into the seat of 
Secretary of State, Clay and his friends would, in one hoiw, make 
///;;/, Jackson, the President." . . . 

Mr. Clay, seeing this publication, positively denied that there 
was any truth in General Jackson's statement, as put forth by 
Mr. Beverly, and expressed his unwillingness to believe Jackson 
had made such a statement, upon which Mr. Beverly addressed 
a letter to General Jackson, who replied, reiterating his former 
declaration, and stating that a gentleman, without naming him, 
called on him, previous to the election by the House, and in- 
formed him that he had a communication to make, etc., and then 



142 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



detailed the conversation which took place, and which he con- 
sidered a proposition from Mr. Clay to him. 

This letter was dated June 5, 1827. Mr. Clay, having obtained 
a copy of General Jackson's letter to Mr. Beverly before its 
publication, came out immediately with a positive, indignant 
denial of the whole and every part of General Jackson's allega- 
tions, and called upon him to produce his evidence. In re- 
sponse to this demand. General Jackson put forth a somewhat 
lengthy publication, argumentative and accusatory of Mr. Clay, 
and giving the name of James Buchanan as the gentleman who 
came to him with corrupt propositions, as he believed, from Mr. 
Clay. This drew from Mr. Buchanan the following letter, ad- 
dressed to the editor of the " Lancaster (Pa.) Journal," dated 
8th of August, 1827: 

rjt ^ -t* 'p ^ '1^ 't" *!* 

"On the 30th of December, 1824, I called upon General 
Jackson. After the company had left, ... I told him I wished 
to ask him a question in relation to the Presidential election; 
that I knew he was unwilling to converse upon the subject; that, 
therefore, if he deemed the question improper, he m.ight refuse 
to give it an answer; that my only motive in asking it was 
friendship for him, and I trusted he would excuse me for thus 
intruding a subject about which I knew he wished to be silent. 

"His reply was complimentary to myself, and accompanied 
with a request that I should proceed. I then stated to him that 
there was a report in circulation that he had determined he would 
appoint Mr. Adams Secretary of State in case he were elected 
President, and that I wished to ascertain from him whether 
he had ever intimated such an intention ; that he must at once 
perceive how injurious to his election sucli a report must be. 

if. -if. if if. 'if. ■)(■■)(. ^ 

"After I had finished, the general declared he had not the 
least objection to answer my question. That he thought well 
of Mr. Adams, but had never said or intimated that he would 
or that he would not appoint him Secretary of State. That 
these were secrets he would keep to himself, — he would con- 
ceal them from the very hairs of his head. 



yACKSON'S CHARGE OF BRIBERY AND CORRUmON. j^^j 

" I called upon General Jackson, on the occasion which I 
have mentioned, solely as his friend, upon my individual re- 
sponsibility, and not as the a^cnt of Mr. Clay or any other 
person. I never have been the political friend of Mr. Clay. 

" The conception never once entered my head that he (Gen- 
eral Jackson) believed me to have been the agent of Mr. Clay or 
of his friends, or that I had intended to propose terms to him 
of any kind for them." 

Mr. Buchanan further states that, in answer to a letter from 
the editor of the "United States Telegraph," dated 12th of 
October, " I promptly informed him, on the i6th, by return 
mail, that I had no authority from Mr. Clay, or his friends, to 
propose any terms to General Jackson in relation to their votes, 
nor did I ever make any such proposition." 

To an ordinary mind this reply of Mr. Buchanan seems to be 
a full and positive denial thiit he went to General Jackson as 
the agent of Mr. Clay or his friends, or made any propositions 
by Mr. Clay's authority or suggestion. " He called on General 
Jackson," he states, "solely as Ids friend, and not as the agent ot 
Mr. Clay, and it never once entered his head that General Jack- 
son believed him to have come to him as Mr. Clay's agent." 

Mr. Clay thought Mr. Buchanan's statement strong and ex- 
plicit. Mr. Webster wrote to Mr. Clay, saying, " Many persons 
think Mr. Buchanan's letter candid. I deem it otherwise. It 
seems to me he labored very hard to protect the general, as far 
as he could without injury to himself The general's friends 
this way, however, affect to consider Buchanan's letter as sup- 
porting the charge." This was the cue given, immediately on 
the publication of the letter, to "the press, which then per- 
sistently insisted that Buchanan's letter proved General Jack- 
son's charge, and the hue and cry of " corruption, bargain, and 
sale" was raised afresh. Had Mr. Buchanan been a truly honest 
witness, he would have denied at once, as his meaning, the in- 
terpretation which the Jackson press put upon his letter; but 
he was a moral coward, and afraid of offending General Jack- 
son : he therefore kept silent, and allowed the friends of the 



144 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



general all the benefit they could derive from proclaiming that 
the charge had been proved by his, Mr. Buchanan's, testimony. 
In this affair, however, he lost the confidence of the general. 

]\Ir. Clay did not allow the subject to drop, but issued a 
circular to his constituents, and addressed the citizens of Louis- 
ville in a most indignant and animated speech, vindicating 
himself from the calumnies his enemies had originated against 
him and were now attempting to overwhelm and ruin him 
with. 

In due time he obtained the testimony of every member of 
Congress who acted with him in the Presidential election, 
Western members generally, besides many others, thirty-four 
in all, including Lafayette, going to prove General Jackson's 
charge utterly false, and that he had, even before leaving Ken- 
tucky to attend Congress, declared to some of his friends that, 
in case he should be so situated as to be required to vote for a 
candidate for President, instead of being voted for, he should 
support Mr. Adams. This he early avowed to Lafayette, who 
made the inquiry of him, and who certified to the fact. 

Upon obtaining this testimony, he issued, December, 1827, a 
stirring address to the people of the United States, which was 
accompanied by a mass of overwhelming testimony. 

In a letter to Mr. Clay, dated January i, 1828, Mr. Webster, 
after stating that he had read Mr. Clay's address, says, " The 
statement is clear, and the evidence irresistible. I am satisfied, 
upon my conscience, that the whole business originated with 
General Jackson himself: whether through mistake or from 
intention I cannot say." 

In 1829, after Mr. Adams had retired from the Presidency, 
in reply to a letter from a committee of gentlemen in New 
Jersey, he spoke of Mr. Clay as follows, and thus denounced 
the charge of "bargain and corruption:" "Upon him the foulest 
slanders have been showered. . . . Prejudice and passion have 
charged him with obtaining that office by bargain and cor- 
ruption. Before you, my fellow-citizens, in the presence of 
our country and Pleaven, I pronounce that charge totally un- 
founded. This tribute of justice is due from me to him, and I 
seize with pleasure the opportunity afforded me by your letter of 



JACKSON'S CHARGE OF BRIBERY AND CORRl^PTION. 145 

discharging the obh"gation. As to my motives for tendering to 
him the Department of State when I did, let that man who 
questions them come forward; let him look around among 
statesmen and legislators of this nation and of that day; let him 
then select and name the man whom, by his pre-eminent talents, 
by his splendid services, by his ardent patriotism, by his all- 
embracing public spirit, by his fervid eloquence in behalf of the 
rights and liberties of mankind, and by his long experience in 
the affairs of the Union, foreign and domestic, a President of 
the United States, intent only upon the honor and welfare of 
his country, ought to have preferred to Henry Clay. Let him 
name the man, and then judge you, my fellow-citizens, of my 
motives." 

In 1843, Mr. Adams, taking a tour to the West for the pur- 
pose of delivering an address at Cincinnati on the establishing 
there of an astronomical observatory, stopping, on his return, 
at Maysville, Ky., was addressed by the mayor on behalf of the 
citizens. In reply he said, "I thank you, sir, for the opportunity 
you have given me of speaking of the great statesman who was 
associated with me in the administration of the general govern- 
ment at my earnest solicitation ; who belongs not to Kentucky 
alone, but to the whole Union, and who is not only an honor 
to this State and this nation, but to mankind. The charges to 
which you refer, after my term of service had expired and it 
was proper for me to speak, I denied before the whole countr}% 
and I here reiterate and reaffirm that denial ; and as I expect 
shortly to appear before my God, to answer for the conduct of 
my whole life, should those charges have found their way to 
the throne of eternal justice, I will, in the presence of Omnipo- 
tence, pronounce them false." 

In replying to an address of the mayor of Covington, Ky., or 
the chairman of a committee, IMr. Adams used similar language. 

On the 27th of Januar}^, 1844, the Legislature of Tennessee 
passed a resolution declaring that "so much of a resolution 
passed by the Legislature of this State, in 1827, as sustained 
the allegation, either expressed or implied, of an improper and 
corrupt combination, or, as it has been more generally denomi- 
nated, corruption, bargain, and intrigue, between John Q. Adams 

10 



146 * PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

and Henry Clay, is, in the opinion of this General Assembly, 
unsupported by proof and not believed." 

Yet, in the face of all this, General Jackson never ceased to 
reiterate the charge, and was followed by thousands of politi- 
cians, who found it to be too effective among the ignorant of 
their party to be given up, and the clamor was therefore kept 
up almost to the day of Mr. Clay's death. It was kept up in 
Pennsylvania with more virulence than in any other State. Mr. 
Buchanan had the power at any time to nail it to the counter 
as a calumny. Why did he not do it? Because he had not 
sufficient manliness and candor. 

AGITATION OF THE PROTECTIVE POLICY. MEETINGS AND CON- 
VENTIONS NORTH AND SOUTH. — LANGUAGE OF THE SOUTH. 

GENERAL CONVENTION AT HARRISBURG. "NULLIFICATION" 

FIRST HEARD OF. — SUGGESTED BY COLONEL HAMILTON, OF 
SOUTH CAROLINA.* — HIS INFLAMMATORY LANGUAGE, 

Another subject in which both the North and the South 
took a very deep interest, but upon which their views were 
antagonistic, had been for some time before Congress and ably 
debated. The interest and feeling manifested in regard to it 
'were not confined to the halls of Congress, but pervaded the 
whole country. Meetings of the people were held, resolutions 
were passed, and the subject was discussed with warmth and 
ability at those meetings and in the public papers. 

A meeting was held in Baltimore, which declared that " it is 
tlie business and duty of the general government to encourage 
and support the national industry in all its lawful pursuits, 
whether in relation to agriculture, manufactures, or commerce; 
and the people of Maryland, generally, have been greatly ben- 
efited by the degree of encouragement that has already been 
extended to certain branches of manufactures, which have fur- 
nished a large and valuable home market for the products of 
our farmers." 

Similar meetings were held in various parts of New York, 
and one, especial!}-, at Albany, which was addressed by Chief- 
Justice Ambrose Spencer, General Van Rensselaer, Martin 
Van Buren, and other eminent men, Mr, Van Buren, who 



AGITATION OF THE PROTECTIVE POLICY. 



147 



was acting with and courting Southern men, professing to be 
"a Northern man with Southern principles," found it necessary 
to participate in the proceedings of the meeting. He did so, 
and made a speech ; but it would puzzle a Philadelphia lawyer 
to discover whether he was for or against the measure. 

The "Woolens bill" passed the House, but was lost in the 
Senate by the casting vote of the Vice-President, Mr. Calhoun, 
Mr. Van Buren dodging the vote, when, if he had voted for it, 
it would have passed. 

Meantime, the South was not indifferent or inactive. Meetings 
were held in South Carolina, and at Charleston especially, at 
which strong denunciator)'- language was used and intemperate 
speeches were delivered. In a memorial from the citizens of 
South Carolina to the State Legislature, the memorialists de- 
clared that the Northern and Middle States were to be enriched 
by the plunder of the South, which was to be made tributary to 
them. 

At the North a general convention was held at Harrisburg, 
Pa., on the 30th of July and several subsequent days, in which 
all the States of the Union were represented except Indiana. 

The convention was composed of " agriculturists and manu- 
facturers, and others friendly to the encouragement and support 
of the domestic industry of the United States," and was called 
for the purpose of taking into consideration the important sub- 
ject of giving protection and encouragement to domestic manu- 
• factures and home industry. 

It was, probably, as able a body of men, in point of talent, 
business capacity and experience, character and influence, as 
could be got together for any purpose whatever. The vener- 
able Hezekiah Niles, the life-long, able advocate of" protection," 
was chairman of a committee to prepare an address to the people 
of the United States, and Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, afterwards 
United States Senator, Secretary of the Treasury, and first Sec- 
retary of the Interior, was a member. 

Of the ninety-six members who composed the Harrisburg 
Conv^ention I know of but two now (1871) living; namely, 
Thomas Ewing, of Ohio,* and Gideon Welles, of Connecticut : 

* Mr. Ewing died a month or two after this w.is written. 



148 



PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 



all the rest have passed away ; but the question they met to 
discuss — the great controversy between the advocates of " Pro- 
tection" and those of " Free Trade" — still survives and occupies 
the public mind. Not only is it not settled, but it never will be. 
Sometimes one side has been in the ascendant in Congress, 
sometimes the other, producing such a vacillation as seriously 
to injure the interests of manufacturers, and with theirs the 
farmers'. 

The contest between the friends and advocates of " protec- 
tion" and those who denounced it as unconstitutional and 
oppressive, became more and more ardent. The friends of 
the " Woolens bill," which had been defeated in the Senate, at 
the last session of Congress, by the casting vote of the Vice- 
President, Mr. Calhoun, thrown upon him by Mr. Van Buren's 
dodging, brought the measure forward again at the session of 
1827-28. Meantime, the public mind at the South, particularly 
in South Carolina and Georgia, continued to be inflamed against 
it by the leading politicians, who harangued the people every- 
where and kept up a continued blast of denunciation through 
the papers. A dinner having been given to Colonel Hamilton, 
representative in Congress, at Walterboro', in the fall of 1827, he 
made a long, inflammatory speech, denouncing the protective 
policy as unconstitutional and oppressive, and proposing "nul- 
lification" AS THE "rightful REMEDY." This is the first we 
hear of "nullification;" though probably that measure had 
been discussed and agreed upon among and by the leaders. 
It is not easy to conceive the heat, fury, and passion of these 
leaders as manifested by their language. 

A new tariff bill was passed by both houses of Congress, 
after a severe struggle in the House and Senate, and became a 
law on the 19th of May, 1828. 

It was not such a bill as the advocates of protection desired ; 
indeed, many of them were strongly opposed to it, for it was 
purposely made as obnoxious as possible by the South, with 
a view, it was alleged, to its defeat ; but, rather than have no 
alteration in the tariff, the friends of protection accepted it 
with all its obnoxious features. It was derisively denominated 
the " Bill of Abominations." 



AGITATION OF THE PROTECTIVE POLICY. i^g 

The political ferment which pervaded the country during the 
summer and autumn of 1827 was greatly increased by the ap- 
pearance of the Carter Beverly letter to the " Fayetteville Ob- 
server;" General Jackson's letter to Carter Beverly, charging 
Mr. Clay with "bargain and corruption;" Mr. Clay's prompt 
and indignant denial ; General Jackson's announcing the name 
of James Buchanan as the person who made proposals to him ; 
Mr. Buchanan's letter, and Mr. Clay's appeal to the public. 

With all these exciting subjects before the country, a Presi- 
dential contest of no ordinary character on hand, and the 
Morgan, or Anti-Masonic, fever raging in New York, it may 
be supposed the people did not need wholesale murders by 
railroads, steamboats, coal-mines, collisions at sea, and daily 
and nightly assassinations, to produce "sensations." 

In the mean time, the "Adams men" took the name of "Na- 
tional Republicans," while their opponents were designated, 
and called themselves, "Jackson men," and their party the 
"Jackson party," showing that parties were then divided by 
preferences for men, and not by difference of views in regard to 
policy ox principles. The only great questions of this kind which 
divided the public mind, and upon which public men differed, 
were those of internal improvements by the general govern- 
ment, and the protection of domestic manufactures. In favor of 
both these, Pennsylvania was foremost; and yet, strange to say, 
a very large majority of her voters were in favor of Jackson for 
President and Calhoun for Vice-President, both Southern men, 
both now opposed to her policy, and both ardently supported by 
those who were threatening to "nullify" the tariff act which her 
influence and agency had done more to obtain the passage of 
than any other State ! True, the " wool" was pulled over her 
eyes by persuading her people that General Jackson was " a 
good tariff man," and referring to his famous " Coleman letter" 
in proof of it, and thus the honest but ignorant German popu- 
lation were deceived by their dishonest leaders. Adams and 
Rush, the othef candidates for President and Vice-President, 
were both Northern men. Mr. Rush, a Pcnnsvlvanian, had 
put forth very elaborate and able arguments, in his reports 
as Secretary of the Treasury, in favor of protecting domestic 



150 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



manufactures. Yet neither the fact that he was a native of 
Pennsylvania, nor his masterly advocacy of Pennsylvania's 
favorite policy, had the least weight with her population. The 
only answer to appeals to her sound judgment, self-interest, and 
consistency to support men who advocated her principles was, 
" Hurrah for Jackson !" and this was all-sufficient. 

ELECTION OF GOVERNOR IN NEW YORK. THE PARTIES AND THE 

NOMINEES. 

The Anti-Masonic party had become somewhat important in 
the State of New York in 1828, the year of the Presidential 
election, inasmuch as it held the balance of power between the 
other two. It was evident that whichever candidate for Presi- 
dent obtained the vote of that State would be elected : the 
struggle for it, therefore, was a vigorous one. 

The election for governor, lieutenant-governor, members of 
Congress, etc., took place before that for Presidential electors, 
and, as the result of these elections would have a very potent 
influence upon the next, each party nominated a powerful 
ticket. The National Republicans nominated for governor 
Smith Thompson, formerly chief justice of the State, then 
Secretary of the Navy, and, finally, one of the justices of the 
Supreme Court of the United States; for lieutenant-governor, 
Francis Granger. The Jackson party nominated Martin Van 
Buren for governor, and Enos T. Throop for lieutenant-gov- 
ernor. The Anti-Masonic party placed in nomination Francis 
Granger for governor, and John Crary for lieutenant-governor. 

Mr. Granger was a National Republican as well as an Anti- 
Mason ; and knowing that if the latter party put a ticket into 
the field and voted for their candidates it would be the means 
of defeating the National Republicans and electing Van Buren 
and Throop, — a result he had no desire to bring about, — he 
withheld his reply to the committee appointed to inform him 
of his nomination (which he declined) as long as he could, 
with a view to prevent any other person being nominated in 
his place. 

But it was of vital importance to Mr. Van Buren and the 
Jackson party that the Anti-Masons should vote their own 



GENERAL JACKSON'S ELECTION. j^j 

ticket ; and he was equal to the occasion. By his management 
Solomon Southwick was put in nomination, or rather nominated 
himself, as the Anti-Masonic candidate, and issued a spirited 
address to the Anti-Masons, well calculated to rouse their pas- 
sions and induce them to " stand by their flag, and lock their 
shields like a Macedonian phalanx." It had the desired effect: 
the result of the election was, for Van Buren and Throop, 
136,785 ; for Thompson and Granger, 106,415 ; and for South- 
wick and Cramer, 33,335. Van Buren and Throop's plurality 
over Thompson and Granger, 30,370, — 2966 less than a majority 
of the whole vote of the State. 

While the gubernatorial campaign was in progress, there ap- 
peared a letter from Mr. Adams, addressed to a Mr. Hartwell, 
of Canandaigua, known as " the Hartwell Letter," in answer to 
one from Mr. Hartwell to Mr. Adams, inquiring whether he 
Avas a Mason ; to which Mr. Adams replied that he never 
had been and never should be a Mason. This exceedingly 
provoked the Masons, many of whom who up to that time 
had been National Republicans went over in great anger to 
the Jackson party, and zealously supported Van Buren, Throop, 
and Jackson. 

Had Mr. Adams been as sagacious and cautious a politician 
as Mr. Van Buren, he would simply have replied, if he replied 
at all, that he was not a Mason. The answer he gave was 
construed to imply either contempt for, or hostility to, the 
Masonic order. 



GENERAL JACKSON S ELECTION. WHAT IT TRIUMPHED OVER. — 

COLONEL BENTON CONTROVERTED. 

The election for President resulted in favor of General Jack- 
son. Colonel Benton says, " It was a triumph over the high 
protective policy and the federal internal improvement policy." 
Did Pennsylvania give her immense majority for Jackson as a 
rebuke to her own high protective policy ?* 

* The venerable Andrew Stewart, of Pennsylvania, who entered Congress in 
1823, and continued a member till 1S33, and was also a member of the Thirtieth 
Congress, 1S47 to 1849, writing to me on the llth September, 1871, says, " I think 
you ought to notice in your work the sudden change of Buchanan and Ingham on 



JC2 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



A WINTER IX WASHINGTON, 1 828-29. 

I spent the winter of 1828-29 ^^ Washington. I arrived 
near the last of December, and at that time heard much talk 
about the marriage of Major Eaton, Senator from Tennessee, 
to Mrs. Timberlakc, which had taken place a few days previous. 
The happy couple had then gone on a bridal tour to Philadel- 
phia. They returned in a few days, and Mrs. Eaton soon left 
cards with such officials, and their wives, as etiquette required 
a Senator to make the first call upon. Among these were Mr, 
and Mrs. Calhoun, Vice-President ; Mr. and Mrs. Rush, Secre- - 
tary of the Treasury; General and Mrs. Porter, Secretary of 
War ; Mr. and Mrs. Southard, Secretary of the Navy. 

Good society was in commotion. Who Mrs. Eaton Avas and 
had been, the old residents of Washington knew, and they were 
now anxious to know what was to be her social position. Peggy 
O'Neil, subsequently Mrs. Timberlake; the wife of a purser in 
the navy, and then the wife of Senator Eaton, was born and 
had always resided in Washington. Unfortunately for her, the 
tongue of scandal had, justifiably or unjustifiably, made free 
with her name for some year or two previous to her marriage 
with Major Eaton. If her calls (by card) were returned by 
Mrs. Calhoun, Mrs. Rush, Mrs. Porter, and Mrs. Southard, the 
question would be settled ; if not, other ladies of an official 
rank below hers would be at liberty to consult their own in- 
clinations and sense of propriety in regard to calling on her. 

It was soon privately whispered about that no one of the 

the tariff policy. They wainily supported the tariff bill of 1824, and the general 
policy of protecting Kmo.x'ic'^ix manufactures, but opposed the woolens bill in 1S27, 
which was quite as important to the farmers and manufacturers as that bill was. This 
was done in pursuance of a contract between the Democracy of the North and the 
Democracy of the South, by which the former were to have the offices and the 
latter to dictate the policy of the country, the North to have the men and the 
South the measures ; and they adhered to the contract most faithfully. The Demo- 
crats of the North all went for the tariff of 1824; but in 1827 they had changed 
sides. After this infamous contsact was made, I quit the Democratic party, and 
adhered to our old friend Henry Clay's ' American System,' the tariff, and 
internal improvements." * 

* Mr. Stewart died a few months after this letter was written. 



A WINTER IN WASHINGTON, 1828-29. j^j 

ladies who had been " carded" by Mrs. Eaton would leave 
cards with her in return. But whispers in social circles are 
trumpet-sounds to curious and anxious ears. To call, or not to 
call, was now the important question among the ladies consti- 
tuting " good society" in Washington, and kept it in a ferment 
the whole winter. General Jackson arrived in February, in 
the midst of this enicute, and was soon appealed to by Mrs. 
Eaton. He took a deep interest in her troubles, — let off, on 
the occasion, some strong expletives, and swore, " by the 
Eternal," that he would place Major Eaton in such an official 
position as would compel the ladies of Washington to call on 
his wife. But some of these, more spunky or independent 
than others, replied, with a spirit equal to his own, that neither 
General Jackson nor any other man should compel them to 
call on any woman they did not choose to call upon. Even 
his own niece, the lady of the White House, refused to visit 
Mrs. Eaton, and was banished, for a time, to Tennessee, but 
was finally brought back and reinstated. 

Society was divided : a portion visited and received Mrs. 
Eaton, while another portion refused to do so ; but, sustained 
by the President, she bore herself proudly wherever she ap- 
peared. She was at this time a splendid-looking woman, and 
must have been beautiful when young. 

Arriving in Washington the latter part of March, when this 
commotion was at fever-heat, and when General Jackson was 
earnestly engaged in endeavoring to effect the admission of 
Mrs. Eaton into society, Mr. Van Buren soon saw and com- 
prehended the situation. Nothing could have been more for- 
tunate for him, as it enabled him to bring into action his tact 
and adroitness in effecting conciliation. With Mr. Vaughan 
and Baron Krudener, the British and Russian ministers, he 
was on the most friendly terms, and soon induced them — 
both of them being bachelors — to aid him in his friendly pur- 
poses towards Mrs. Eaton ; and they both gave a ball and 
party for her special benefit, and made every possible demon- 
stration of honor to her. But at the ball given by the Russian 
minister a circumstance happened which was most significant, 
and exceedingly mortifying to " Bellona" (Mrs. Eaton). Mrs, 



154 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



Huygens, the wife of the minister from Holland, on being es- 
corted to the supper-table, perceived Mrs. Eaton already seated 
at the head of the table, and an empty chair by her side which 
was intended for Mrs. H. Having declined, although requested 
by Mr. Van Buren, in her own Dutch tongue, to be introduced 
to Mrs. Eaton, she now refused to occupy the seat to which she 
had been escorted and thus be compelled to appear to be on 
social terms with her; and, taking her husband's arm, with 
stately dignity, she walked out of the room, and immediately 
took her carriage home. 

This display of dignity, spirit, and self-respect by Mrs. 
Huygens greatly incensed General Jackson, who threatened to 
send the Dutch minister home. But Mr. Van Buren had won 
his heart, and from this time to the death of the general never 
lost it. 

The winter was a gay one, though not comparable to the gay 
seasons of late years. Parties were frequent, not large, but the 
more cheerful and agreeable. The receptions at the Executive 
mansion were not then those multitudinous and promiscuous 
gatherings which now occur there. No one then thought of 
attending them who had not the entree to the best circles of 
Washington society : they were made up, therefore, of the 
most distinguished and refined people in the city, either per- 
manently or temporarily resident here. Party politics had its 
influence, to be sure, so far as to prevent some from attending 
parties given by those who were specially obnoxious to their 
opponents of either side. 

Mrs. General Porter's parties were the delight of all, — Adams 
men and Jackson men alike, — and her rooms were always 
crowded. General Porter was Secretary of War, had distin- 
guished himself by his gallant conduct in the War of 1812, on 
the northern frontier, had received the thanks of Congress, and 
been presented with a gold medal, voted by Congress. Upon 
the appointment of Mr. Barbour as minister to England, in 
June, 1828, General Porter succeeded him as a member of Mr. 
Adams's cabinet. He had been a member of Congress when 
the War of 18 12 was declared, and had raised a large volunteer 
force in Western New York, of which he had the command. 



A WINTER IN WASHING TON, 1S28-29. jrr 

He was a man of great mental and physical vigor, and agreeably 
surprised the prominent men at Washington, who had known 
little of him, by the ability he exhibited as Secretary of War. 

Mrs. Porter was a model woman, wife, mother, and mistress 
of her household. She was the daughter of Mr. Breckinridge, of 
Kentucky, at one time Attorney-General of the United States, 
and sister of the eminent divines the Revs. Robert and John 
Breckinridge. Like the Roman matrons and the royal ladies 
of England in ancient times, the members of Mr. Breckinridge's 
household, as of all others, seventy-five years ago, were ac- 
customed to perform domestic duties, and deemed it no degra- 
dation : the knowledge and ability to do so were then necessary 
accomplishments for a lady and wife. No one possessed 
these accomplishments in a higher degree than the daughter 
of Attorney-General Breckinridge and wife of Major-General 
Porter. But no one shone with more brilliancy in the drawing- 
room than the accomplished, domestic housewife. Easy, grace- 
ful, self-possessed, quick in repartee, piquant in her remarks 
when she chose to be, a keen observer of character, with great 
tact, few were her equals in conversation, few could keep a 
circle gathered around her, of gentlemen or ladies, in better 
humor or more entertained with her playful badinage and 
sprightly wit. Yet, with all her playful wit and brilliant con- 
versation, she had a large, generous heart, full of sympathy, as 
every poor or unfortunate or suffering person who came within 
the sphere of her observation, appealed to her benevolence, or 
sought her counsel, had reason to know. Her piety was as 
genuine as it was unostentatious. She was a proud woman ; 
yet to the ordinary observer, and to the humble, she was as 
free from pride as the most humble. She was proud of her 
lineage, — of father, mother, and brothers ; proud of her husband 
and children, as she had reason to be.* Her pride was the 
consciousness that she was the peer of the highest and best 
in the land ; but she felt, at the same time, that the poor and 
heart-stricken, if virtuous, were her own peers. She seemed 

* The late gallant Colonel Peter Augustus Porter, who was killed at the battle 
of Cold Harbor at the head of his regiment, was her son, and a son worthy his 
parents. No more valuable life was lost during the rebellion. 



156 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

to feel above no one, but that no one was above her : pride and 
humility beautifully blended formed her character. She was 
equally admired and beloved by high and low, rich and poor, 
bond and free ; for who could resist her winning manner ? She 
was the life, soul, and spirit of the administration circles while 
in Washington, from June, 1828, to the 4th of March, 1829. 

The following anecdote of her is characteristic, and may not 
be uninteresting. 

Her ordinary apparel was very plain. Being in the vicinity 
of Batavia, whither she went with her carriage on business, she 
stopped at the hotel to feed her horses and dine. Going in to 
dinner, she left her bonnet, which was a very plain one, upon 
the table of the sitting-room. Meantime, a wedding-party 
arrived, full of fun and glee, and on her return to the sitting- 
room one of the gentlemen of the party had her bonnet on 
the end of his cane, carrying it about and offering it for sale at 
auction. Mrs. Porter waited a few moments, and then said to 
the auctioneer that if he could not get a satisfactory bid for it 
she would take it ; whereupon he tossed it to her as if she had 
been some one as inferior as the bonnet, by which he judged the 
owner. Mrs. Porter then entered her carriage and left for home. 

Next day two or three gentlemen called upon General Por- 
ter, at Black Rock, to whom they had letters of introduction, 
and were invited to dine with him the day after. Coming down 
from Buffalo, where they had stopped, they and the ladies with 
them were ushered into the parlor, and in a few minutes Gen- 
eral and Mrs. Porter entered. In Mrs. Porter the party imme- 
diately recognized the woman whose bonnet they had made 
so much sport of She received them with all the grace and 
dignity natural to her, perhaps with a little more than was her 
wont, as she immediately recognized them. Their feelings 
during the dinner may be guessed, but nothing was said; 
nothing could be said without making matters worse. Mrs. 
Porter was amply revenged as she saw their mortification and 
embarrassment. 

The auctioneer said, afterwards, that he hunted for a knot- 
hole out of which to escape, and he was sure he must have 
behaved very awkwardly at dinner. 



GENERAL JACKSON ARRIVES AT WASHINGTON. i^j 

Tried by the usual standard, she would hardly be ranked 
among "the first ladies of the land," certainly not as di fashion- 
able one, as she never spent her summers and her thousands at 
Newport, Long Branch, or Saratoga, or her winters in Paris. 
She was so unfashionable and destitute of taste as to prefer her 
own beautiful, happy home, immediately on the banks of the 
Niagara, to all the fashionable watering-places in the world, 
with their crowds of pleasure-seekers, who find no rational 
enjoyment at home, nor contentment anywhere. 

GENERAL JACKSON DECLINES TO PAY THE CUSTOMARY VISIT OF 
RESPECT TO THE PRESIDENT. 

On arriving at Washington, General Jackson declined to pay 
the customary visit of respect to the President, on the ground, 
as alleged, that he could not shake the hand of one who had 
attained the office by bargain and corruption. This incident 
caused much comment among all parties, and was warmly con- 
demned by the most discreet of his own friends. They had 
not forgotten that he was on the occasion of Mr. Adams's in- 
auguration one of the first to step forward and tender him his 
hand and congratulations, and they knew that he had no more 
evidence now that unfair and dishonorable means had been 
used to elect Mr. Adams, than he had then ; and if he could- 
take Mr. Adams by the hand the7t, why not Jiow ? 

Simultaneously with the arrival of the President elect came, 
for the first time in the history of our government on such an 
occasion, crowds of office-seekers ; those who had joined and 
swelled the hue and cry of denunciation of " extravagance," 
" corruption," " bargain and intrigue" against the administra- 
tion, and had hurrahed for Jackson. The city was full to over- 
flowing of these cormorant patriots. That they were to be 
" rewarded" was thus announced to them by the " Telegraph," 
the organ of the party, on the 2d of November, 1828 : 

" We know not what line of policy General Jackson will 
adopt. We take it for granted, however, that he will reward 

HIS FRIENDS AND PUNISH HIS ENEMIES." 

That this " line of policy" was to be adopted seemed to be a 
well-understood fact among the leading seekers, a large num- 



-^ 



158 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

ber of whom were editors of the principal Jackson papers. But 
there was a multitude gathered here belonging to a class far 
below them, the like of whom had never before been seen 
at the capital as expectants of office, and whose presence was 
mortifying to many of the high-minded friends of the general, 
especially from the South, whence none of this class came, and, 
indeed, very few of any class. 

Mr. Calhoun was looked upon at this time as " lord of the 
ascendant," " heir-apparent," and sure of succeeding to the 
Presidency at the end of four years, as the Jackson creed and 
cry had been "one term," which had taken with the people and 
aided his election. How he "missed his mark" will appear 
hereafter. ' 

A SPICY DEBATE, 

Mr. Smyth, of Virginia, supposing General Jackson was sin- 
cere in recommending an alteration of the Constitution so as 
to prevent any one man from holding the office of President for 
more than one term, had introduced into the House, at a pre- 
vious session, a resolution to alter the Constitution in accord- 
ance with General Jackson's idea; but, being informed that his 
proposition was a very good one for the outs, but very bad for 
the ins, he rose one morning in the House and withdrew his 
'^ resolution. As quick as thought John C. Wright, of Ohio, 
rose, was recognized by the Speaker, — Stevenson, — and re- 
oved Mr. Smyth's resolution. 

Mr. Wright had been endeavoring during the whole session 
— this was, I think, in F"ebruary — to obtain the floor, but in 
vain : the Speaker would never see him. He had got it now, 
in the morning hour, and could hold it, day by day, indefinitely. 
He determined to avail himself of it to say what he had to say. 
He was a speaker of no mean ability, fluent, sharp, caustic, and 
sarcastic. 

A short time previous to Mr. Smyth's withdrawal of his 
resolution, anonymous notes had been laid upon the desks of 
some members, calling upon them to vote for it; and as an in- 
ducement to do so, the writer endeavored to show how much 
better would be their chances of obtaining the Presidency if the 



A SPICY DEBATE. 



159 



Constitution should be so altered as to limit its possession by 
any one man to a single term. There was not a doubt that 
these notes emanated from the mover of the resolution. 

Mr. Wright, in commencing his remarks, alluded to these 
notes, and exhibited one of them, which drew a crowd of mem- 
bers around him. He said they reminded him of a certain 
proclamation issued by a general on the Niagara frontier during 
the war. 

Mr. Smyth here sprang to his feet and called the member 
from Ohio to order. Mr. Wright sat down. The Speaker said, 
" The gentleman from Virginia will state his point of order." 

Mr. Smyth said " his point of order was, that the member 
from Ohio had alluded to and spoken of a proclamation which 
was not before the House." 

The Speaker, with a peculiar mischievous twinkle of his eye, 
said, " The cheer cannot decide whether the gentleman from 
Ohio is in order or not until the cheer hears the proclamation 
read." 

This produced great merriment in all parts of the House, 
and, as General Smyth had no particular desire to have the 
proclamation read, he sat down, and Mr. Wright proceeded. 

Every one understood then what the proclamation was; 
there are few living now who know anything about it. An 
explanation is therefore necessary. 

General Smyth was at one time in command on the Niagara 
frontier, during the War oj 18 12, and issued a grandiloquent 
proclamation to the people of Western New York, calling upon 
them to volunteer and join his army: "come in regiments; 
come in companies; come in squads; come in pairs; come singly, 
and march with me into Canada." He made a great bluster 
about invading Canada, but finally did nothing, and was re- 
moved. Everybody was disgusted with his bluster and brag, 
and he became the laughing-stock of the nation, obtaining 
the sobriquets of " Proclamation" and "Braggadocio Smyth." 
Hence the Speaker's sly humor in sa}'ing, " the cheer cannot 
decide without hearing the proclamation read," — the very last 
thing General Smyth desired. 

Mr. Wright now resumed the floor, and went on till the close 



j5q public men and events. 

of the morning hour, in running a parallel between the notes 
and the proclamation : " Come, all you patriots who want to be 
President, and vote for my resolution. Come in regiments; 
come in companies; come in squads; come in pairs; come 

singly." 

Mr. Wright occupied the morning hour, or that portion of it 
not taken up by other business, for three or four days, hitting 
right and left, and paying off old scores ; this being the only 
opportunity he would have of doing it. 



CHAPTER III. 

Geneial Jackson inaugurated. — His Inaugural Address. — The Multitude enter the 
White House with Him. — A Terrible Jam. — A Disorderly Rahijle fill the House 
and scramble for the Refreslinients designed for the Drawing-Room. — They dam- 
age the Chairs and Sofas with their Hob-Nailed Shoes and Mud from the Canal. — 
General Jackson's First Cabinet. — " Retrenchment and Reform." — " Rewarding 
Friends and Punishing Enemies." — Reign of Terror. — Why and how Judge 
McLean became a Justice of the Supreme Court. — Excitement at the South on 
the Subject of the Tariff, and at the North on account of Morgan's Abduction. — 
The Case of Tobias Watkins. — The Twenty-first Congress meets December 7, 
1829. — General Jackson sounds the First Blast of War against the United States 
Bank in his Message. — The Great Debate between Mr. Webster and Colonel 
Hayne. — Colonel Hayne. — Coolness between General Jackson and Mr. Calhoun. 
— General Jackson fires a Shot into Nullification. — His Celebrated Toast, " Our 
Federal Union : it must I)e preserved." — Georgia and the Cherokees. — Rup- 
ture lietween General Jackson and Mr. Calhoun. — The Breaking-up of General 
Jackson's First Cabinet. — Mr. Van Buren appointed Minister to England. — A 
New Cabinet appointed. — Mr, Livingston. — Mr. McLane. — The Kitchen Cabi- 
net. — Anti-Masonic Nomination for President, October, 1S31. — Mr. Wirt 
nominated. — National Republican Convention nominates Mr. Clay for President. 
— First Session of the Twenty-seconfl Congress. — Mr. Clay in the Senate. — 
Brings in a Bill to reduce Revenue Duties. — Makes an Able Speech. — Colonel 
Hayne replies. — A Brutal Assault upon a Member of the House. — Hot Discus- 
sion in the House on the Occasion. — The. President charged with inciting his 
Myrmidons to attack Members to silence Opposition. — General Houston, the 
Assailant, reprimanded by the Speaker, by Order of the House. — Attemjn of 
Heard to assassinate Mr. Arnold, a Member of the House. — Young Men's 
National Convention at Washington. — Incidents. — Rejection of the Nomination 
of Mr. Van Buren as Minister to England. — In the Debate, Senator Marcy pro- 
claims the Dogma that "to the Victors belong the Spoils of Office." — How the 
Nomination of General Jackson for a Second Term was procured. — William B. 
Lewis's Letters. — Baltimore Jackson Convention. — Nomination of Mr. Van 
Buren as Vice-President. — Mr. William C. Braddley, of Vermont, nails the 
Charge of Bargain and Corruptijn to tlie Counter in this Convention. — Distribu- 
tion of the Proceeds of the Public Lands.— Tariff Bill of 1S32. — The Case of 
the Cherokees. — General Jackson assumes the Right to support the Constitution! 
as he understands it, independent of the Supreme Court. — Application of the- 
Bank of the United States for a Re-Charter. — Mr. Adams's Report. — The New 
Hampshire Intrigue to obtain Control of the Bank. — The Veto of the Bank Bill. 
— Pass.age of the " Force" or " Bloody Bill."— Verplanck's Tariff Bill.— Mr. 
Clay's Compromise Bill. — Mr. Webster opposed to it. — It is passed. — Anecdote 

n 161 



1 52 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

of Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Simmons. — Mr. Clay's Land or Distribulion Hill. — 
An Episode. — Mr. Webster and Mr. Poindexter. — Presidential Election, 1832. 
— General Jackson re-elected by an Overwhelming Majority. 

GENERAL JACKSON'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. — THE MULTITUDE 
ENTER THE WHITE HOUSE WITH HIM. — TERRIBLE JAM. — HIS 
CABINET. 

General Jackson was sworn into office as President of the 
United States on the 4th of March, 1829. His inaugural ad- 
dress was artfully drawn to mean anything or nothing, except 
where it was intended to give a back-handed blow to the out- 
going administration. For instance, with the exciting questions 
of protection to domestic manufactures and internal improve- 
ments he deals in Delphic generalities. 

The following paragraph, however, had meaning, and both 
indirectly or impliedly cast censure upon Mr. Adams's admin- 
istration, and foreshadowed the use to be made of offices, as 
well as the proscription for opinion's sake, which immediately 
followed : 

" The recent demonstration of public sentiment inscribes on 
the list of executive duties, in characters too legible to be over- 
looked, the task oi reform ; which will require, particularly, the 
correction of those abuses that have brought the Federal gov- 
ernment into conflict with the freedom of elections, and the 
counteraction of those causes which have disturbed the rightful 
course of appointment, and have placed or continued power in 
unfaithful or incompetent hands." 

There are very serious implied charges in this sentence. 
First, that the Federal government, under Mr. Adams, had in 
some way interfered with elections ; a charge never before made, 
never attempted to be sustained, and utterly destitute of truth. 

Second. What is meant by " disturbed the rightful course of 
appointment" no one could ever explain. 

Third. The charge of having " placed or continued power in 
unfaithful or incompetent hands" is equally untrue. 

Mr. Adams was both careful and fortunate in selecting not only 
competent men, but men of superior abilities, for all the offices 
he filled. One only of all his appointees proved unfaithful, and 
the amount the government lost by him was very trifling. 



GENERAL JACKSON'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 163 

Whatever might be said or believed then, we now know that 
his administration was one of the purest, ablest, and most 
economical we have ever had. Even Washington's was not 
more so. It was calumniated out of existence, and damning 
obloquy cast upon it, so long as the people could be made to 
believe the falsehoods uttered against it. 

From the Capitol, at the cast front of which General Jackson 
was sworn in by Chief-Justice Marshall and delivered his in- 
augural, he proceeded to the White House with such an accom- 
paniment as was never before beheld in Washington. 

A Washington lady of high culture and social position thus 
described the scene : 

" The President was literally pursued by a motley concourse 
of people, riding, running, helter-skelter, striving \yho should 
first gain admittance into the Executive mansion, where it was 
understood that refreshments were to be distributed. The halls 
were filled with a disorderly rabble scrambling for the refresh- 
ments designed for the drawing-rooms ! the people forcing 
their way into the saloons, mingling with the foreign minister- 



-■> 



and citizens surrounding the President. . . . China and glass 
to the amount of several thousands of dollars were broken in 
the struggle to get at the ices and cakes, though punch and 
other drinkables had been carried out in tubs and buckets to 
the people." 

Another writer who witnessed the scene says, "A profusion 
of refreshments had been provided. Orange-punch by barrels 
full was made ; but, as the waiters opened the door to bring 
it out, a rush would be made, the glasses broken, the pails of 
liquor upset, and the most painful confusion prevailed. To 
such a degree was this carried, that wine and ice-creams could 
not be brought out to the ladies, and tubs of punch were taken 
from the lower story into the garden to lead off the crowd 
from the rooms. ... It was mortifying to see men, with boots 
heavy with mud, standing on the damask-satin-covered chairs 
and sofas." 

Judge Story wrote, " The President was visited at the palace 
by immense crowds of all sorts of people, from the highest and 
most polished down to the most vulgar and gross in the nation. 



164 



PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 



I never saw such a mixture. The reign of King Mob seemed 
triumphant." 

I was then in the cit>% and the reports of those present con- 
firmed the above accounts. 

GENERAL JACKSON's FIRST CABINET. 

General Jackson's first cabinet was constituted as follows: 
Martin Van Buren, New York, Secretary of State ; Samuel D. 
Ingham, Pennsylvania, Secretary of the Treasury; John H. 
Eaton, Tennessee, Secretary of War; John Branch, North Caro- 
lina, Secretary of the Navy; John M. Berrien, Georgia, Attorney- 
General ; William T. Barry, Kentucky, Postmaster-General. 

Of these gentlemen, Messrs. Eaton, Branch, and Berrien were 
members of the United States Senate, and Mr. Ingham of the 
House of Representatives. Mr. Van Buren had been a member 
of the United States Senate up to the first of January, only two 
months before. 

Of members of Congress, besides those named as cabinet 
officers, the following were immediately appointed, namely : 

Louis McLane, of Delaware, Senator, Minister to England; 
John Chandler, of Maine, Senator, Collector of Customs; 
Geo. W. Owen, of Alabama, member of the House of Repre- 
sentatives, Collector of Customs ; Francis Baylies, Massachu- 
setts, member of the House of Representatives, Collector of 
Customs ; John G. Stower, New York, member of the House 
of Representatives, District Attorney, Florida; T. P. Moore, 
Kentucky, member of the House of Representatives, Minister 
to Colombia. 

But these were not all : during the first six months of General 
Jackson's administration more " Federal appointments devolved 
upon members of Congress" than had before fallen to their lot 
from the commencement of the government, in 1789, down to 
the 4th of March, 1829,— forty years. Thus did the President 
" practice upon the maxims he recommended to others." 

The Washington lady whom I have already quoted, speaking 
of the condition of things at the capital at this period, says, — 

" With the advent of Jacksonism was inaugurated proscrip- 
tion for opinion's sake, and a state of party hostility ensued 



POLITICAL PROSCRIPTION. 



165 



which not only strictly separated political opponents, but per- 
vaded social relations and severed friendly ties. It was indeed 
a dark era in the capital, which had been characterized by 
elegance of manners and the charm of high breeding." 

It is hardly possible for a person not familiar with the cir- 
cumstances to conceive the anxiety and di.stress which this new 
order of things, this " reign of terror," produced in Washington. 

It must be remembered that up to that time no person had 
been removed from an office in one of the departments for any 
other cause than incompetency or unfaithfulness ; and these 
cases were exceedingly rare. Heads of bureaus, and clerks, 
upon accepting office and entering upon their duties, did so 
with no expectation of its being a mere temporary arrangement. 
They gave up all other business and devoted themselves to the 
duties of their office ; and it was tJien thought that the longer 
the service the more capable and useful became the officer. 

But now came a change, " a great political revolution," as the 
new Secretary of the Treasury designated it: a sweep was to 
be made of all, in the departments and elsewhere, who did not 
"belong to the household of the faith." The axe fell upon 
scores who had held their positions many years, — had families, 
some of them large, and no other means of support than their 
salaries. They were unfitted for entering into other business ; 
some of them, indeed, were too old to do so. What was the 
prospect before them? Hunger and want. What was the 
humane, the refined and feeling reply to statements of this 
kind ? " Root, hog, or die.'' So said the "Telegraph." 

WHY AND HOW JUDGE MCLE.A.N BECAME A JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME 

COURT. 

What I am about to relate in regard to Judge McLean's 
appointment was stated by General Cass, at General Porter's, in 
my presence, on the evening after the conversation between Gen- 
eral Jackson and Judge McLean, which I here give, occurred, 
and which, he said, he had just had repeated to him by the latter 
gentleman, with whom we knew he was on ver)' intimate terms. 

Mr. McLean had been Postmaster-General about six years, 
under Mr. Monroe and Mr. Adams, and was understood, as he 



1 ^(i PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 

was " a Jackson man," to be an aspirant for the position of 
Secretary of War. But, as General Jackson had determined to 
put Major Eaton at the head of that department, Mr. McLean's 
wishes could not be gratified. But the general proposed that 
if he would remain where he was the salary of the office should 
be raised, and it should be made a cabinet office. With this 
Mr. McLean was content, and the new arrangement was soon 
publicly understood. 

It was soon known, however, that General Jackson would 
adopt the policy indicated by the "Telegraph" in the preceding 
November : viz., that of " rcivarding his friends and piaiishiiig 
his enemies^ As Mr. McLean had always refu.sed to make 
appointments and removals upon the ground of party affinities, 
and had strongly condemned such a practice, the inquiry was 
naturally made, " If General Jackson adopts this policy, what 
will Mr. McLean do? Will he carry it out, or refuse?" 

This question was so often put, and so emphatically answered 
by his nearest friends in the negative, that the general deemed 
it proper to come to an understanding with, and sent for, Mr. 
McLean, to whom he stated that he should adopt the policy of 
removing from office such persons as had, during the canvass 
for President, taken an active part in politics, and asked whether 
he had any objection to this line of action. 

To this Mr. McLean replied in the negative; "but," said he, 
" if this rule should be adopted, it will operate as well against 
your friends as those of Mr. Adams, as it must be impartially 
executed." To this General Jackson made no reply; but, after 
walking up and down the room several times, as if cogitating 
with himself, he said, " Mr. McLean, will you accept a seat 
upon the bench of the Supreme Court?" This was answered 
in the affirmative ; and he was in due time nominated, as we, 
who had had the story related to us, expected. 

EXCITEMENT AT THE SOUTH AND AT THE NORTH. 

The effervescence and agitation at the South on the subject 
of the tariff continued with unabated heat during the vacation 
of Congress, and was culminating into a serious if not alarming 
crisis. 



CASE OF TOBIAS WATKINS. 



167 



At the North, in the western part of New York and in Penn- 
sylvania, tlie pubh'c feeling was scarcely less demonstrative on 
another subject, that of the abduction of William Morgan, 
before spoken of 

In May, at a sitting of the Court of General Sessions, at 
Canandaigua, Judge Howell presiding, Eli Bruce, sheriff of 
Niagara County, and John Whitney were convicted of kidnap- 
ping Morgan, and sentenced, the one to close confinement for 
two years and four months, the other for one year and three 
months. 

On the trial it was proved that Morgan had been taken in a 
close carriage, his eyes bandaged, from Batavia to Lockport, 
where he was put into a cell and confined during the night, 
and from thence next day to Fort Niagara, at the mouth of the 
Niagara River, where he was confined in the powder-magazine. 
I shall speak of his fate hereafter. 

CASE OF TOBIAS WATKINS. 

During the summer it was discovered that Dr. Tobias Wat- 
kins, late Fourth Auditor, was a defaulter to the amount of 
about two thousand dollars. For this he was indicted, tried, 
convicted, and imprisoned. The affair caused a great stir in 
Washington, and was availed of to prove the corruptions and 
defalcations charged upon the outgoing government. Defal- 
cations being then of rare occurrence, hardly known, indeed, 
the affair caused a great sensation, and was looked upon in a 
more criminal light than such transactions now are, since, un- 
fortunately, they have become so frequent and of vastly larger 
proportions. 

Dr. Watkins was a man of prominence, highly esteemed in 
social life, and one of the last who would have been suspected 
of doing a wrong act or attempting to defraud the govern- 
ment. That he had no such intent, but merely used the 
money as a temporary relief from pecuniar}^ embarrassment, 
his personal friends claimed and believed. The matter assumed 
a political significance, and was the cause of as much exultation 
on the one side as of mortification and regret on the other. 
He was imprisoned in a cell, over which was painted, in large 



1 68 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

letters, " Criminal Apartment',' — a pleasant sight to his affec- 
tionate and faithful wife, who visited him as often as she was 
permitted to do so. He lived many years after undergoing 
this imprisonment, a broken-down and ruined man. He had 
been prosecuted with a display of exultation and vindictiveness 
altogether disproportioncd to the offense he had committed, 
and which must have been prompted by the very unfriendly 
feelings entertained towards Mr. Clay, his friend, by Amos 
Kendall. There is no other way of accounting for the malice 
shown towards him, and the insatiable desire to punish and 
disgrace him. 

But how this case sinks into insignificance when compared 
with the stealings and defalcations of a host of Federal officers 
in 1834, '35, '36, and '37, under General Jackson, and exposed 
in 1837, — to say nothing of the stupendous stealings of the 
Tammany ring in New York ! Did the administration which 
so patriotically prosecuted Dr. Watkins utter a word against 
Swartwout, who pocketed over one million two hundred 
thousand dollars, or Price, who took seventy-five thousand 
dollars ? Not a word. And the host of land-office defaulters 
mieht have never been heard of but for Mr. Wise's com- 
mittee of investigation, which brought those defalcations to 
light and exposed them to the world. 

The Twenty-first Congress assembled on the first Monday, 
7th, of December, 1829. With the exception of two or three 
paragraphs, the message contained nothing worthy of note. In 
this document was sounded the first blast of war upon the 
United States Bank from the Executive. Thus spoke the 
President : 

" The charter of the Bank of the United States expires in 
1836, and its stockholders will most probably apply for a re- 
newal of their privileges. In order to avoid the evils resulting 
from precipitancy in a measure involving such important prin- 
ciples and such deep pecuniary interests, I feel that I cannot, 
in justice to the parties interested, too soon present it to the 
deliberate consideration of the legislature and the people. Both 
the constitutionality and the expediency of the law creating 
this bank are well questioned by a large proportion of our 



DEBATE BETWEEN HAYNE AND WEBSTER. 



169 



fellow-citizens, and it must be admitted by all that it has failed 
in the great end of establishing a uniform and sound currency. 
Under these circumstances, if such an institution is deemed 
essential to the fiscal operations of the government, I submit to 
the wisdom of the legislature whether a national one, founded 
upon the credit of the government and its revenues, might not 
be devised, which would avoid all constitutional difficulties, 
and at the same time secure all the advantages to the gov- 
ernment and country that were expected to result from the 
present bank." 

Thus the President had brought up the question of re- 
charter six or seven years before the expiration of the charter; 
and yet he berated the directors for applying for a re-charter two 
or three years later, as being premature ! 

THE GREAT DEBATE BETWEEN SENATORS HAYNE AND WEBSTER. 
THE SOUTH AGAINST THE NORTH. 

Early in the first session of the Twenty-first Congress — Jan- 
uary, 1830 — Mr. Foot, Senator from Connecticut, introduced 
the following resolution : 

''Resolved, That the Committee on Public Lands be instructed 
to inquire into the expediency of limiting for a certain period 
the sales of the public lands to such lands only as have here- 
tofore been offered for sale and are subject to entry at the 
minimum price. Also, whether the office of Surveyor-General 
may not be abolished without detriment to the public service." 

There was nothing in the resolution itself which gave it the 
importance it acquired by the debate to which it gave rise, and, 
but for its being seized upon as an occasion for the display of 
sectional animosity and denunciation, it might have been passed 
and acted on without creating a ripple in the proceedings of the 
Senate. But the debate which followed its introduction and 
grew out of it was the most important and memorable, on 
account of the great principles which were discussed, and the 
high reputations and eminent abilities of the two principal 
speakers, that had occurred in Congress since the no less 
memorable debate upon Jay's treaty, in 1794, when Madison 
and Fisher Ames were the two great speakers. 



1/0 



PUBLIC MEN AXD EVENTS. 



Mr. Benton opened the debate in a fierce onslaught not only 
upon the harmless resolution but upon New England, charging 
that section of the country with perpetual hostility to the West, 
mainly in endeavoring to prevent the sale of the public lands 
and emigration to settle them, and thus to check the growth of 
the West. 

The debate assumed a wide range, and embraced almost 
ever}'- political subject that had agitated the country since the 
formation of the Constitution. It was eminently of a party and 
acrimonious character, the members of the two parties, Jackson 
and Anti-Jackson, attacking and defending with their sharpest 
weapons, and with a vim to which the asperities that grew 
out of the Presidential election of 1828, and the sweeping pro- 
scriptions of those in office which had followed, gave force. 

It lasted over two months, and was participated in by nearly 
all the Senators, — Benton, Barton, Burnett, Foot, Grundy, 
Holmes, Johnston, Knight, Livingston, Noble, Rowan, Rob- 
bins, Smith, and Sprague. Several of the speeches were con- 
tinued from day to day, some gentlemen occupying the floor at 
intervals for eight or ten days. 

But the great and absorbing interest of this celebrated de- 
bate, that which has given it the historical importance which it 
bears, culminated in the discussion between Mr. Webster and 
Colonel Hayne of the principles of the Constitution and the 
character and powers of our government. Under the lead of 
Mr. Calhoun, South Carolina was then arraying herself against 
the general government, threatening to resist the execution of 
the revenue laws, which she denounced as oppressive and un- 
constitutional. The positions he assumed as the true interpreta- 
tion of the Constitution were, in fact, iiulUfication, afterwards, 
but not then, avowed. Colonel Hayne and Colonel Benton 
were in accord in their hostility to New England, and she was 
assailed by both. This aroused Mr. Webster, who came to the 
defense of his own section of country, and especially his beloved 
Massachusetts. Replying to Colonel Hayne, he had incidentally 
introduced the subject of slavery, and drew a comparison be- 
tween Kentucky and Ohio, — a slave and a free State. 

This aroused Colonel Hayne, who showed impatience to 



DEBATE BETWEEN IIAYNE AND WEBSTER. lyj 

reply, sa}-ing, in opposing the postponement of tlie debate to 
accommodate Mr. Webster, Avho had a case to argue in the 
Supreme Court, and had just come from that tribunal, that he 
had a shot to return, and, laying his hand on his breast, that 
he wished to relieve himself of something that rankled there. 
Mr. Webster then said, with no little spirit, " Let the debate 
proceed : I am ready to receive the Senator's shot." 

Both gentlemen had spoken, and in doing so had only 
warmed each other up and sharpened the conflict. They 
were, respectively, the champions of the sections of the nation 
they represented and the principles held by their respective 
sections. The field was even greater than the celebrated " field 
of the cloth of gold :" it was the floor of the Senate of the 
United States. They knew that not only the eyes of the sec- 
tions they respectively represented and championed, but the 
eyes of the whole nation were upon them. They felt that the 
questions they were discussing, involving as they did the future 
fate of the nation, the powers of its government, were the most 
important that could arise; and they put forth their utmost 
strength. 

Colonel Hayne was a son of South Carolina, of whom the 
State was justly proud, — the son, too, of the patriot who fell a 
victim to British cruelty during the Revolution. He was a 
highly-educated gentleman and lawyer, of refined and fasci- 
nating manners, exceedingly amiable and unassuming, with a 
mellifluous voice, which he knew well how to modulate. What 
he said of Mr. Webster — " that he had never heard him utter a 
word in a careless or vulgar style ; that he seemed never to 
forget his own dignity or be unmindful of the character and 
feelings of others" — may with equal truth be said of him. As 
pure as a child in morals, he was as simple as a child in man- 
ners : he was therefore equally admired and beloved by all who 
had the happiness to know him. He was of slender form, but 
lithe and graceful in his movements, and pleasing in his general 
aspect. He was the polished Saladin of the contest, Webster 
the ponderous Coeur de Lion. 

Mr. W^ebster was always scrupulously well dressed when he 
expected to speak in the Senate, and on this occasion particu- 



1/2 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



larly so. He was then in the prime of manhood, — forty-eight 
years of age ; his thick, glossy hair black as the raven's wing ; 
his forehead broad and massive, towering above his large, dark, 
deep-set, wonderfully-powerful eyes ; his garb, a blue coat with 
metal buttons, a buff vest rounding gracefully over his full 
abdomen; his shoulders broad, his chest deep and capacious, 
A white cravat encircled his great neck, the support of his 
ponderous head. 

When Mr. Webster consented to receive, then and there, the 
" shot" which Colonel Hayne expressed a desire to discharge, 
the latter took the floor, January 21, 1830, and opened his 
battery. He spoke to a full Senate, and to galleries and lobbies 
filled to their utmost capacity, chiefly by ladies. Around him 
gathered the prominent Jackson Senators, who encouraged him 
by their approving smiles, and sometimes aided him by notes 
handed to him. Mr. Calhoun never appeared more happy, and 
frequently sent notes to his friend and pupil, giving him hints, 
suggestions, and facts. Colonel Hayne did not conclude his 
speech on the first day, and the Senate adjourned over to the 
25th, when he closed. It was a great occasion for the South, 
and loud were her exultations that he was more than a match 
for Mr. Webster. The "Telegraph" was especially jubilant. 

Colonel Hayne had spoken of Mr. Webster's sleeping on his 
first speech. Mr. Webster replied, true, he did, and as he had 
no opportunity to reply instanter, the floor having been given 
to Colonel Benton, he must sleep on it or not sleep at all. But 
he had no time to give it a thought till he rose to reply the next 
day. And now Mr. Webster replied the next day to Colonel 
Hayne's second two-days' speech. This reply is admitted to 
be the ablest speech Mr. Webster ever made, one of the greatest 
ever delivered in Congress, and not surpassed by any in the 
British Parliament; and yet the only time he had for prepara- 
tion was from the evening of one day to the morning of the 
next. 

The friends of each of the great orators, or those who con- 
curred with them in their respective views, claimed the superior- 
ity in logical argument, beauty of illustration, just deduction, 
and force and elegance of rhetoric. But, as there was no such 



DEBATE BETWEEN HA YNE AND WEBSTER. 



173 



test of superiority in this instance as there was in the great 
race between Ech'psc and Henry, — the North and tlic South, 
— scarcely less celebrated than the debate, each party could 
adhere to its own predilection. Posterity has settled the ques- 
tion. Mr. Webster's second speech on that occasion has placed 
him, as an orator and statesman, in the rank of Demosthenes, 
Cicero, Chatham, Burke, and Ames. 

" That speech did more than make the name of Webster 
immortal. It achieved more, much more, than a triumph over 
the Southerner and his heresies. It fired the patriotic heart 
of the country. It made it rejoice that the country was ours, 
then and forever. It planted deep, deep, in every true Ameri- 
can heart that sentiment so vital to our duty, our honor, our 
fame, our power, our happiness, our freedom, * Liberty and 
Union, now and forever, one and inseparable.' "* 

The Senate-chamber on this occasion was literally filled to 
overflowing. "The press of auditors," says Mr. Niles, "seems 
to have been unprecedented : grave Senators were lost in the 
crowd of ladies, every convenient place for sitting or standing, 
save the Vice-President's seat and the Secretary's table, being 
occupied by them." The occasion was a memorable one; and 
though more than forty years have passed away, and every 
Senator and officer of the Senate then present has gone to 
his long home, there are still a few persons lingering in 
Washington who well remember the intense interest felt, and 
the universal discussion of the merits of the two great orators. 

On the day of the delivery of Mr. Webster's speech, the Senate 
met and transacted some formal business ; but all were waiting 
for the knight who was to break a lance that day, — "the great 
defender of the Constitution," as he was ever after called. Mr. 
J. M. Clayton, who had dined with Mr. Webster the evening 
before, relating the circumstances to me, said, " I kept my eye 
on the door. Presently in walked, with a slow and stately step, 
the observed of all observers, dressed with scrupulous care, as 
he always was on such occasions. As soon as he entered, I 
left my seat and went so as to meet him, as if by accident. As 
we met, I asked, in a very low tone, ' Are you well charged ?' 

* Reverdy Johnson. 



174 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



' Seven fingers,' in a similar tone, was the reply ; and I passed 
on, as he did, to his seat." 

Sportsmen will understand what " seven fingers" meant; it 
having reference to the charge of a gun, — four fingers being a 
full charge. It seems by this that Mr. Webster felt that he was 
well prepared for his task. 

"Mr. Webster," he said, "never for an instant hesitated for 
a word. The most appropriate one for the occasion presented 
itself the instant it was wanted. His elocution was the steady 
flow of molten gold. I never heard him speak after that, when 
the words he required were so completely at his command and 
so readily presented themselves as on that occasion. The sub- 
ject to be discussed, — the Constitution of the United States, — 
true constitutional doctrines to be enforced, — the North to be 
defended, — the heresies of Nullification to be overturned and 
scattered to the winds, — these filled and inspired his great 
patriotic soul, and aroused every mental faculty he possessed. 
The occasion was a great one, and greatly and triumphantly 
did he meet it." 

Mr. Hayne, in his speech, distinctly asserted the right of a 
State to nullify an act of Congress distasteful to her. Mr. 
Webster denied this power, and illustrated its practical opera- 
tion in a manner so clear and forcible as to carry conviction 
to every unbiased mind. General Jackson subsequently, in his 
proclamation called forth by the threatening attitude of South 
Carolina, maintained the same construction of the Constitution. 
Still, however, this notion as belonging to State rigJits had 
taken too strong a hold of the Southern mind to be given up 
upon argument, as the Rebellion afterwards proved. The heresy 
had also taken root in some Northern minds, as a part of the 
Democratic creed. There is hardly a vestige of it now left 
north of the Susquehanna. 

GENERAL JACKSON FIRES A SHOT INTO NULLIFICATION. HIS 

CELEBRATED TOAST, " OUR FEDERAL UNION : IT MUST BE 
PRESERVED." 

" The great debate," as that between Mr. Webster and Mr. 
Hayne was called, took place from the middle to the latter part 



JACKSON AND NULLIFICATION. 175 

of January, Mr. Webster's last and great speech being made on 
the 26th. This debate was the subject of constant comment 
by Senators and members of the House. It presented two 
opposite pohtical doctrines : the one the doctrine " that in case 
of a plain, palpable violation of the Constitution by the general 
government, a State may interpose" and nullify the law for her 
own protection. This, no other than nullification, was the doc- 
trine of Colonel Hayne. The other doctrine, that of Mr. Web- 
ster, was that this government is the independent offspring of 
the popular will. It is not the creature of State legislatures, and 
is not obliged to act through State agency. The Constitution 
has declared that " the Constitution, and laws of the United 
States made in pursuance thereof, shall be the supreme law of 
the land, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to 
the contrary notwithstanding." In other words, it is a national 
government, possessing within itself all the powers necessary 
to enforce its laws and for its own preservation ; and no State, 
or combination of States, has the power to arrest or prevent 
the execution of a law of the United States. 

In order to give popularity to and strengthen what the nulli- 
fiers preferred to call the State's rights doctrine rather than 
nullification, it was determined to celebrate the birthday (13th 
of April) of Thomas Jefferson, the apostle of Democracy, by a 
banquet, to which the President and Vice-President, the Secre- 
tary of State, and others should be invited. Of this banquet Col- 
onel Benton gives an account: 

" There was a full assemblage when I arrived, and I observed 
gentlemen standing about in clusters in the anteroom and 
talking with animation on something apparently serious and 
which seemed to engross their thoughts. I soon discovered 
what it was, — that it came from the promulgation of the twenty- 
four regular toasts, which savored of the new doctrine of nul- 
lification, and which, acting on some previous misgivings, 
began to spread the feeling that the dinner was got up to 
inaugurate that doctrine and to make Mr. Jefferson its father. 
Many persons broke off, and refused to attend further ; but 
the company was still numerous and ardent, as was proved 
by the number of volunteer toasts given — above eighty — in 



1^6 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

addition to the twenty-four regular toasts, and the numerous 
and animated speeches delivered. When the regular toasts 
were over, the President was called upon for a volunteer, and 
gave it, — the one which electrified the country, and has become 
historical : 

" ' OUR FEDERAL UNION : IT MUST BE PRESERVED.' 

" This brief and simple sentiment, receiving emphasis and 
interpretation from all the attendant circumstances, and from 
the feeling which had been spreading from the time of Mr. 
Webster's speech, was received by the public as a proclamation 
from the President to announce a plot against the Union and 
to summon the people to its defense. Mr. Calhoun gave the 
next toast ; and it did not allay the suspicions which were 
crowding every bosom. It was, ' The Union : next to Liberty, 
the most dear : may we all remember that it can only be pre- 
served by respecting the rights of the States and distributing 
equally the benefit and burden of .the Union !' 

" The toast touched all the tender parts of the new question, 
— liberty before Union, — only to be preserved, — State rights, — 
inequality of burdens and benefits. These phrases, connecting 
themselves with Hayne's speech and with proceedings and 
publications in South Carolina, unveiled Nullification as a 
new and distinct doctrine in the United States, with Mr. Calhoun 
for its apostle, and a new party in, the field, of which he was 
the leader. The proceedings of the day put an end to all 
doubt about the justice of Mr. Webster's grand peroration, and 
revealed to the public mind the fact of an actual design tending 
to dissolve the Union." 

This celebrated toast was not an impromptu one, conceived 
and brought forth at the table by General Jackson, but one 
deliberately and carefully concocted at the White House before 
he left it for the banquet. He had an inkling of the purpose of 
the banquet, and might have stayed away ; but he chose to face 
the young monster Nullification and deal him a stunning, 
if not a death blow. His course was characteristic of him, and 
by it he did more to strengthen the Union sentiment in the 
United States than he could have done in any other way. 



GEORGIA AND THE CHEROKEES. 177 

Besides, he thus met the disunionists or nunificrs face to face, 
and gave them to understand what they might expect from 
him. 

\ 

GEORGIA AND THE CHEROKEES. 

Georgia wanted " more room" and more land. She had got 
rid of the Creeks, and had taken possession of their lands and 
distributed them by lottery among her citizens. But there 
was not enough for all, and she therefore took constructive pos- 
session of the whole territory occupied by the Cherokees by 
extending her laws over it and annexing the various parts of it 
to certain counties, or erecting them into new counties, at the 
same time abolishing all Indian laws. 

Thus threatened, the Cherokees addressed a memorial to 
Congress. " We are told," they say, " if we do not leave the 
country which we dearly love, and betake ourselves to the 
Western wilds, the laws of the State [of Georgia] will be. 
extended over us, and the time, ist of June, 1830, is appointed 
for the execution of the edict. When we first heard of this, 
we were grieved, and appealed to our father the President, and 
begged that protection might be extended over us. But our 
father the President refused us protection, and decided in favor 
of the extension of the laws of the State over us. We dearly 
love our country, and it is due to your honorable bodies, as 
well as to us, to make known why we think, the country is ours, 
and why we wish to remain in peace where we are. 

"The land on which we stand we have received from our 
fathers, who possessed it from time immemorial, as a gift from 
our common Father in heaven. . . . This right of inheritance 
we have never ceded, nor Qver forfeited." ... 

The Cherokees had at this time made great progress in civil- 
ization, in agriculture, and in the arts of domestic life, some of 
them having very fine, well-cultivated, and well-stocked farms. 
Some of their chiefs and principal men were highly educated, 
and exhibited great talents. In this respect they had no supe- 
riors among those who were now seeking to rob them of their 
lands and drive them into the wilderness and back to tlie 
savage condition from which they had emerged. 

12 



178 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



But the fiat had gone forth, and go they must, — as they did, 
finally, upon military compulsion. 

A bill was introduced into Congress providing for the re- 
moval of the Cherokees to lands to be assigned them west of 
the Mississippi River, and, after long and earnest debate in both 
branches, was finally passed as a party measure ; for in no other 
way could a majority in either House have been obtained for it, 
such was its palpable injustice, and so strong were the sympathy 
for the Indians and the feeling at the North against it. 

The Indians again appealed to Congress in eloquent and be- 
seeching language to be allowed to remain where they were, 
and to be protected by the government, and issued a touching 
address to the people of the United States ; but their appeals, 
however pathetic, were in vain, except to increase the sympathy 
felt for them among religious people, and by all classes at the 
North generally. Orders were issued for their removal, and 
they were forced to abandon their homes and farms, some of 
them desirable residences and estates, where every comfort and 
many luxuries had been enjoyed. 

The Indians endeavored to obtain protection through the 
Supreme Court of the United States, and with that view em- 
ployed Mr. Wirt as their counsel. A correspondence took place 
between him and Governor Gilmer, of Georgia, previous to 
suit being commenced, which on the part of the latter was 
imperious in its tone and treated some parts of Mr. Wirt's 
letter with studied irony. 

A suit was brought and argued in the Supreme Court ; 
but the court declined to decide the questions brought before 
it, deeming them of a political rather than a judicial char- 
acter. With Mr. Wirt was associated Mr. John Sergeant, of 
Philadelphia. 

An Indian, George Tassels, being charged with committing a 
homicide in the Indian country after Georgia had extended her 
laws over it, was arrested, indicted, tried, and convicted before 
Judge Clayton, who sentenced him to be hung, and declared 
that should the Supreme Court of the United States issue a 
writ of error in the case he would pay no attention to it. A 
writ of error was issued in the case, but was disregarded, and 



RUPTURE BETWEEN JACKSON AND CALHOUN. j-q 

Tassels was hung. Nothing more was heard of the writ of 
error. 

Great feeling and indignation were excited among the reli- 
gious people of the United States by the arrest, imprisonment, 
and brutal treatment, by the authorities of Georgia, of several 
missionaries in the Indian countr^^ 

Mr. Adams had incurred the hostility of Georgia by pro- 
tecting the Creeks and Cherokees against her impatient and 
grasping rapacity; General Jackson won her support by yield- 
ing to all her demands. 

RUPTURE BETWEEN GENERAL JACKSON AND MR. CALHOUN. 

I have mentioned how Mr. Calhoun was nominated as Vice- 
President on the ticket with General Jackson in Pennsylvania, 
through the instrumentality of his friend Mr. Dallas, with the 
understanding that General Jackson was to serve but one term 
and be succeeded by Mr. Calhoun. It was well understood by 
•the leading men of the Jackson party, in March, 1829, when 
General Jackson was inaugurated, that Mr. Calhoun was to 
be his successor at the end of four years; though probably the 
former was in no way committed to this arrangement. 

But Mr. Van Buren had not been many months in the cabinet 
ere there was a change in the political atmosphere, perceived 
only by those who had an inside view of affairs at Washington. 

It was well known, to Southern gentlemen at least, that, 
though Mr. Crawford and Mr. Calhoun were members of Mr. 
Monroe's cabinet, there was no friendship between them, but 
rather the contrary; and Mr. Crawford, believing that Mr. Cal- 
houn in some degree instigated the attack on him by Ninian 
Edwards in his celebrated "A, B." letters, was desirous to 
thwart Mr. Calhoun's aspirations. 

With this view, probably, Mr. Crawford addressed a letter 
to Mr. John Forsyth, on the 30th of April, 1830, detailing 
Mr. Calhoun's acts and propositions in cabinet council in re- 
lation to General Jackson's doings in Florida, and particularly 
stating that " Mr. Calhoun's proposition in the cabinet was 
that General Jackson should be punished in some form." Of 
course this letter was intended for General Jackson's eye, and 



l8o PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

met it, whereupon he immediately addressed a note to Mr. 
Calhoun, inclosing a copy of Mr. Crawford's letter, calling 
his attention to it, and demanding an immediate, categorical 
answer. 

As the doings in cabinet council are sacred, to be divulged 
by no one, the astonishment of Mr. Calhoun at the proceedings 
being thus reported after a lapse of many years, and the anxiety 
which this unwarrantable divulgence caused him, knowing as 
he did the wrath which the discovery of his unfriendly inten- 
tions towards General Jackson at the time mentioned would 
kindle, may be conceived. He replied, however, in a manly 
tone; and General Jackson rejoined, closing with the words, 
" Understanding you now, no further communication with you 
on this subject is necessary." This letter bore date May 30, 
1830, and from this date the breach between the President and 
the Vice-President was complete, though not generally known 
for a considerable time,* 

With this publication the controversy ended, but ended in a 
total separation of the two high official parties, leaving them 
irreconcilable enemies. Mr. Calhoun's address to the people 
of the United States, and the letters published with it, may be 
found in the fortieth volume of " Niles's Register," from page 
II to page 45. But it is not probable that any one at this day 
will take interest enough in the quarrel of two men who forty 
or fifty years ago filled a large space in the public eye and 
exercised a controlling influence on the public mind to read 
what was then read with so much avidity. 

THE BREAKING-UP OF THE CABINET. 

The rupture between General Jackson and Mr. Calhoun was 
one of the causes, but not the sole cause, of the breaking-up 
of the cabinet. There had been social troubles from the com- 
mencement of the Jackson dynasty. General Jackson had 

* A writer in tliC " London Quarterly Review" for July, 1852, says, "Since the 
Revolution of 1688 there have been very few examples of members of a cabinet 
divulging its secrets. In some rare cases men have been provoked to such reve- 
lations ; but the rest, including the best, have forborne under all circumstances 
and provocations." 



THE BREAKING -UP OF THE CABINET, ySl 

declared that he would place Major Eaton where the ladies 
would be compelled X.O visit his wife.* But, though the general 
might command an army, he found, as many even more distin- 
guished warriors had found before him, that 

"If women will, they will, you may depend on't; 
And if they won't, they won't, and there's an end on't." 

The wives of some of the members of the cabinet would 
hold no social intercourse with Mrs. Eaton ; neither would 
Mrs. Calhoun, Mrs. General Macomb, Mrs. General Towson, 
and many others. This was a constant source of irritation. 
Every possible means was resorted to to induce these ladies 
to meet her in society, but in vain. 

It was understood that Mr. Ingham, Secretary of the Treas- 
ury, who rumor said had been forced upon General Jackson 
by Mr. Calhoun's friends to the exclusion of Mr. Baldwin, the 
President's choice, was a friend of Mr. Calhoun. Thus con- 

* This can hardly be understood by those who are not familiar with the circum- 
stances which created a " tempest in a teapot" in Washington in the winter and 
spring of 1S29, without explanation ; and, however unpleasant it is to relate matters 
such as then disturbed society in the capital, it becomes necessary to do so, as they 
were the means of bringing about events that must be noted. 

Major John H. Eaton, United States Senator, and the special friend of General 
Jackson, was married to Mrs. Timberlake, fik O'Neil, in December, 1S28. On 
her return to the city from a wedding-tour, in the early part of January, 1S29, 
Mrs. Eaton called and left cards at Mr. Calhoun's, General Peter B. Porter's, and 
one or two other places, making a first visit to those who by the laws of etiquette 
should be first visited by a Senator or his wife. The cards left at Mr. Calhoun's 
and General Porter's were unnoticed, — the visit not returned. Mrs. Eaton, as 
Mrs. Timberlake, had been long well known in Washington, and many ladies, 
among them Mrs. General Towson and Mrs. General Macomb, not only did not, 
but declared, in no secret manner, that they would not, visit Mrs. Eaton. This 
created a great hubbub in Washington, in the midst of which General Jackson 
arrived. Immediately Mrs. Eaton laid her case and complaints before him, when 
he swore, by the Eternal, that he would place Major Eaton in a position where the 
ladies would be compelled to visit Mrs. Eaton. Whereupon Mrs. Calhoun, Mrs. 
Towson, and other spunky ladies replied, according to report at the time, that 
neither General Jackson nor any other man could, or should, compel them to visit 
any woman they did not choose to visit. Jupiter took the part of Juno, but could 
not help her; and her woes and complaints disturbed the cabinet until it was 
broken up. I have already spoken of this matter ; but this further explanation 
seems necessarj'. 



1 82 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

stituted, there could be no harmony in the cabinet, and its 
dissolution was inevitable. It soon " went by the board." 

Mr. Van Buren, whether by previous concert with General 
Jackson or not must be left to conjecture, tendered his resig- 
nation in a characteristic letter, in which a cause for this step 
was mistily stated ; namely, that he was considered a candidate 
for the high office of President as General Jackson's successor, 
and it was therefore improper for him to remain in the cabinet. 
Why this fact should have such significance at this particular 
time no one could see. It had long been known that he was 
an aspirant for the Presidency, but he had not been spoken of 
publicly as a candidate; and, for aught any one could see, there 
was as much impropriety in his becoming a member of the 
cabinet in 1829 as there was in his remaining in it in 1830, 
But by giving this reason for retiring he announced his pur- 
pose of being a candidate to succeed General Jackson. 

His resignation was followed by that of Major Eaton, Secre- 
tary of War. The other members of the cabinet were informed 
that an entire reorganization would take place, and that their 
resignations would be accepted. They were accordingly ten- 
dered. 

That the refusal of the families of Messrs. Ingham, Branch, 
and Berrien to invite Mrs. Eaton to their parties or hold social 
intercourse with her was the real cause of the rupture of the 
cabinet there can be no doubt. Quite a voluminous corre- 
spondence was drawn out on this subject, consisting of letters 
from Mr. R. M. Johnson, Mr. Berrien, Mr. Ingham, Major 
Eaton, Mr. Calhoun, and Mr. Blair, which were published, and 
thus the public were let into the secrets of the cabinet. 

Mr. Richard M.Johnson was deputed by the President to call 
on the refractory members. An interview took place at Mr. Ber- 
rien's house. What the purpose was, and what was said, Mr. 
Berrien afterwards stated in a letter, forced from him by circum- 
stances, addressed to Mr. Johnson. From this letter we learn 
" that an impression had been made upon the mind of the 
President that a combination existed between Messrs. Ingham, 
Branch, and Berrien to exclude Mrs. Eaton from the society 
of Washington ; . . . that this conviction had been produced 



THE BREAKING-UP OF THE CABINET. 



183 



upon his mind by the fact that those gentlemen had given 
large parties to which Mrs. Eaton had not been invited ; that 
the President would in the future expect that at least on such 
occasions (that is to say, when large or general parties were 
given) Mrs. Eaton should be invited." 

In reply to this, Mr. Berrien said " he would not permit the 
President or any other man to regulate the social intercourse 
of himself or his family, and that if such a requisition was per- 
severed in he would retire from office." 

Mr. Berrien refers to an interview he had with the President, 
in which " he expressly declined to discuss the question of the 
truth or falsehood of the reports to which he (the President) 
referred [reports in regard to Mrs. Eaton]. Without under- 
taking to decide whether they were true or false, it was his 
purpose merely to conform to the general sense of the com- 
munity of which he had become a member, and he could not 
be induced to change that determination." 

Mr. Ingham also made a public statement confirming that 
of Mr. Berrien. Mr. Branch, in a letter to Mr. Berrien, says, 
" My recollections of the interview [with Colonel Johnson, — 
spoken of by Mr. Berrien and Mr. Ingham] will most abun- 
dantly corroborate all that you have said." 

The resignations of these gentlemen were immediately ten- 
dered, and they retired. Major Eaton having issued an address 
to the people in reference to the break-up of the cabinet, and 
brought in Mr. Calhoun's name, the latter replied. He said, — 

" It is impossible to doubt that the main drift of Major Eaton's 
address is to hold me up as the real author of all the discord 
which is alleged to have prevailed in the late cabinet. . . . 

"With this view, and in order to give a political aspect to the 
refusal of Mrs. Calhoun to visit Mrs. Eaton, he. Major Eaton, 
states that she and myself called in the first instance on him 
and Mrs. Eaton. . . . Unfortunately for Major Eaton, his state- 
ment is not correct. Mrs. Calhoun never called on Mrs. Eaton 
at the time he states, nor at any time before or since, nor did she 
ever leave her card for her, nor authorize any one to do so. . . . 

"This is not the first time that Mrs. Calhoun has contradicted 
the statement that she had visited Mrs. Eaton. It was reported 



1 84 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



at the time that she had visited Mrs. Eaton, and that her card 
had been left. She then on all suitable occasions contradicted 
it, as directly and pointedly as she now does." 

The real cause of the rupture of the cabinet cannot now be 
misunderstood. It was then a universal theme for editors, and 
of talk among the people. 

Mr. Van Buren was, immediately after his resignation, ap- 
pointed minister to England ; the post he had coveted under 
Mr. Adams. Major Eaton was appointed governor of Florida, 
and Mr. Barry, minister to Spain. Mr. Ingham, Mr. Branch, 
and Mr. Berrien retired to private life, Mr. Ingham never again 
to leave it. 

Mr. Berrien soon separated himself from the Jackson party, 
and eventually became a very prominent member of the Whig 
party. 

Up to this time, Mr. Calhoun, who for many years had been 
an aspirant for the Presidency, was making satisfactory ad- 
vances towards the glittering object of his ambition. But now 
had come a frost, a killing frost. The fruit of all his earnest 
labors to organize and give strength to the Jackson party — to 
put down Mr. Adams's administration without respect to its 
measures — was the Sodom apples which had turned to ashes 
on his lips. He for whose elevation he had zealously and suc- 
cessfully labored was now his implacable enemy and the ardent 
friend of his more fortunate rival. The Presidential seat was a 
" dissolving view," floating away beyond his reach for a long, 
perhaps indefinite, period. It proved to be forever. 

A NEW CABINET APPOINTED. 

An entirely new cabinet was appointed by General Jackson, 
consisting of the following gentlemen : 

Edward Livingston, of Louisiana, Secretary of State ; Louis 
McLane, of Delaware, Secretary of the Treasury ; Lewis Cass, 
of Michigan, Secretary of War; Levi Woodbury, of New 
Hampshire, Secretary of the Navy ; R. B. Taney, of Maiyland, 
Attorney-General ; Amos Kendall, of Kentucky, Postmaster- 
General. 

In most respects each of these gentlemen was superior to 



" THE KITCHEN CABINET" 



185 



his predecessor, and the cabinet, as a whole, was a very able 
one. 

Mr. Livingston, Mr. McLane, General Cass, Mr. Woodbury, 
and Mr. Taney had belonged to the old Federal party; though 
Mr. Woodbury left it in early life. 

Mr. Livingston was a man of great learning and eminence 
as a jurist and publicist, had had great and varied experience 
in public life, and proved to be a useful counselor to the 
President in the crisis upon which the country was entering. 
He had served as aid-de-camp to General Jackson at the battle 
of New Orleans, and had voted for him for President, as a 
member of the House, in February, 1825. He was entitled, 
therefore, to General Jackson's confidence; and he possessed 
it. Though he had been for many years a citizen of Louisi- 
ana, residing and practicing law in New Orleans, he was a 
native of New York, had represented the city in Congress at 
the time General Jackson was a member, and had been mayor 
of New York. Li high party times of old he had been a 
Federalist, and, in regard to the construction of the powers of 
the general government under the Constitution, was believed 
to still hold to the Federal doctrines. In view of the doctrine 
of State rights now advocated by South Carolina and her lead- 
ing men, this was very important. 

Mr. McLane was worthy of the high favor in which he was 
held by the little State of Delaware, which he had ably repre- 
sented in both branches of Congress for many years, and was 
much esteemed by members of both bodies in his private and 
public character. 



"the kitchen cabinet. 



At this time it began to be alleged that there was "a malign 
influence" at work in Washington and brought to bear espe- 
cially on the President : it was frequently spoken of by the 
"Telegraph," now the organ of the Calhoun section of the 
Jackson party. Ere long it was said that a back-stairs or 
kitchen cabinet had come into existence, where all public 
measures, appointments, removals, etc., were discussed and de- 
termined upon before being submitted to the cabinet proper; 



1 86 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

that the Constitutional advisers of the President were mere 
figure-heads, never really consulted. This came to be pretty- 
generally believed, and the term " kitchen cabinet" was as 
familiar to the people as a household word. 

This inner council, or confidential cabal, was understood to 
be composed of William B. Lewis, Second Auditor, Amos 
Kendall, Postmaster-General, Francis P. Blair, editor of the 
" Globe," lately established, and a few men of less note. The 
President undoubtedly placed great confidence in these men, 
than whom three more astute politicians could hardly be found. 

The establishment of the "Globe," the rupture with Calhoun, 
and the breaking-up of the first cabinet had inaugurated a bitter 
war between the two rival papers, though really between the 
President and Mr. Calhoun, in consequence of which there 
were rich revelations made to the public, some of which I have 
already given. 

ANTI-MASONIC NOMINATION FOR PRESIDENT. 

The hostility to Masonry, caused by the abduction and 
murder of Morgan, had extended from New York into Penn- 
sylvania, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Ohio, and 
other States, to a greater or less extent, and an Anti-Masonic 
party was the result. It now assumed to be a national party. 
In Pennsylvania it was composed, in a considerable degree, of 
original Democrats and Jackson men ; and in every State 
where it took root it cut into both the great parties alike. 
It seemed to be the only thing that could detach any con- 
siderable number of the Jackson men from their party; but 
the hostility to Masonry — the indignation felt towards a society 
which could sanction, if not enjoin, such an outrage in a civil- 
ized community, as the masses believed the Masonic fraternity 
had in the case of Morgan — rose to fanaticism. Strong as their 
feeling had been in favor of Jackson, amounting, as some 
thought, to infatuation, it was overridden by a still stronger, 
upon which they now acted. 

It was determined by the leaders of this party to nominate 
candidates of their own for President and Vice-President, to be 
voted for in 1832. A national convention was therefore called, 



NATIONAL REPUBLICAN CONVENTION. 



187 



and held at Baltimore in October, 183 1, at which it was in- 
tended to nominate John McLean, one of the justices of the 
Supreme Court, for President. No other individual had been 
mentioned, or seriously thought of, and the leaders, or some 
of them, professed to know that Judge McLean would accept 
the nomination. But on arriving at Baltimore a letter was 
received from him, then at Nashville, positively declining the 
nomination. 

This was very embarrassing ; but Mr. Wirt, then residing and 
being in Baltimore, was thought of, waited upon, and nomi- 
nated for President, and Amos Ellmakcr, of Pennsylvania, for 
Vice-President. Of this convention John C. Spencer, of New 
York, was President, and two gentlemen were members who 
in after-years enjoyed a high national reputation and exercised 
an immense influence in national affairs, — William H. Seward 
and Thaddeus Stevens. 

A National Republican Convention had been designated 
to meet at Baltimore in December, to nominate Henry Clay 
for President. Mr. Wirt had been requested to prepare the 
address of that convention, and was engaged in its prepara- 
tion when he was sought for by, and consented to accept the 
nomination of, the Anti-Masons. 

This nomination took the country, and especially the Na- 
tional Republicans, by surprise; Mr. Wirt's acceptance of it was 
a source of regret to many of his and Mr. Clay's friends, — 
perhaps to Mr. Clay himself, who entertained a high personal 
esteem for him, which this circumstance did not lessen. 

Mr. Wirt deeply regretted, when he came to reflect upon the 
step he had taken, that he had allowed his name to be thus 
used, and himself to be put in an attitude of antagonism to his 
friend Mr. Clay and his political confreres of the National Re- 
publican party. They sorrowed for him as one who, with the 
best intentions and the noblest of natures, had erred. 

NATIONAL REPUBLICAN CONVENTION, 

The National Republican Convention was held at Baltimore, 
and Mr. Clay and John Sergeant were nominated for President 
and Vice-President. This was a ticket eminently worthy the 



1 88 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

support of every American citizen. It seemed superfluous to 
say that both these gentlemen had long been pre-eminent as 
statesmen, and identified with the great leading public meas- 
ures to which the country owed much of its prosperity. The 
only task the convention had to perform in regard to the can- 
didate for the Presidency was simply to register the will of 
those they represented. Had they nominated any other than 
Mr. Clay for President, their action would have been promptly 
repudiated, and he would have been proclaimed their candidate 
by those who voted for him. 

JOHN SERGEANT. 

Mr. Sergeant was a man whose life was as pure as his talents 
as a lawyer and statesman were eminent. He was one of the 
few native-born Philadelphians to whom the city felt a warm 
attachment and of whom she was justly proud. To know 
was to admire him ; to know him intimately, to love him. 
With what affection and pride did Philadelphians speak of 
" our John Sergeant" ! In the recollection of his unassuming 
deportment, pleasant conversation, the overflow of kindly feel- 
ing, and a well-stored mind, spiced not unfrequently with lively 
humor, it is pleasant to linger over his name, — a green tree in 
full foliage in the midst of a desert of politics. 

But, proud as the Philadelphians were, and the State ought to 
have been, of him, such was, and ever has been, the indiffer- 
ence of Pennsylvanians in regard to the eminent men of their 
State — the entire absence of State pride — that there never was 
a time, probably, during his whole public life, when he could 
have been elected to the Senate of the United States, — this 
honor being usually conferred on men of inferior ability, some- 
times of marked inferiority. In this respect Pennsylvania has 
ever presented a striking contrast to Virginia, Massachusetts, 
South Carolina, and some other States. 

FIRST SESSION OF THE TWENTY-SECOND CONGRESS. MR. CLAY 

IN THE SENATE. — HIS BILL TO REDUCE REVENUE DUTIES. 

The first session of the Twenty-second Congress commenced 
on the 5th of December, 1S31. A great number of questions 



CLyiV'S REVENUE BILL. 



1S9 



of vital importance to the country came before that body at 
this session. 

The feeling at the South against the tariff, and especially 
against the principle of protection, continuing to increase, and 
the public 'debt being near a total extinction, Mr. Clay, now a 
member of the Senate, deemed it a favorable moment to settle 
the controversy between the friends and opponents of the pro- 
tective policy upon a more firm basis, by the passage of an act 
which should reduce the amount of duties collected on foreign 
merchandise. His plan was to enlarge greatly the list of free 
articles, consisting of such as were not produced or manufac- 
tured in the United States and therefore did not come in 
competition with any here, and at the same time to levy dis- 
criminating duties upon such as were produced or manufactured 
here. 

He introduced the subject by submitting a resolution de- 
claratory of the policy he proposed, and accompanied its intro- 
duction by a speech, which, as it was the first he had made 
after his entrance into the Senate, and the first he had made in 
eight years in the halls of Congress, together with his high 
reputation as an orator, and the anxiety to see and hear the 
man who filled so large a space in the public eye and the 
hearts of the people, did not fail to fill the galleries to over- 
flowing, especially with ladies. The floor of the Senate was 
also crowded, members of the House rushing in with eager 
anxiety to hear the great orator, " Harry of the West." 

In speaking of the Sinking-fund act, Mr. Clay paid a just 
tribute to the memory of Mr. Lowndes, whose reputation as a 
wise and prudent statesman, a pure, high-minded, honorable 
man, has come down to the present day. " That act," said Mr. 
Clay, "was prepared and proposed by a friend of yours [Mr. 
Calhoun] and mine, whose premature death was not a loss 
merely to his native State, of which he was one of its brightest 
ornaments, but to the whole nation. No man with whom I 
ever had the honor to be associated in the legislative councils 
combined more extensive and useful information with more 
firmness of judgment and blandness of manner than did the 
lamented Mr. Lowndes. And when in the prime of life, by 



1 90 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



the dispensation of an All-wise Providence, he was taken from 
us, his country had reason to anticipate the greatest benefits 
from his wisdom and discretion." 

Mr. Clay closed by saying, — 

" Sir, I came here in a spirit of warm attachment to all parts 
of our beloved country, with a lively solicitude to restore and 
preserve its harmony, and with a firm determination to pour oil 
and balm into existing wounds, rather than further to lacerate 
them. ... I expected to be met by corresponding dispositions, 
and hoped that our deliberations, guided by fraternal senti- 
ments and feelings, would terminate in diffusing contentment 
and satisfaction throughout the land. And that such may be 
the spirit presiding over them, and such their issue, I yet most 
fervently hope." 

Mr. Hayne, of South Carolina, rose, not to reply at this time 
to Mr. Clay, but to ask how it was possible that they could 
meet on ground which involved no concession whatever to the 
views of the South, but which proposed to maintain the pro- 
tective system in all its rigor. " In the presence of this august 
body, and before his God," he said, "he would repeat his deep 
conviction that the consequences to grow out of the adjust- 
ment of this great question involved the future destinies of this 
country, and, in order that we should approach it with wary 
steps and becoming caution," he moved to postpone the further 
consideration of the subject till the following Monday; and on 
that day he replied in a very elaborate and able speech, in which 
he presented at large the views of the South, examined the 
character of the protective system, denied its beneficial effects, 
at least upon the South, held it to be unconstitutional, unjust, 
and oppressive, and eulogized free trade. 

Mr. Hayne was the champion of the South on this occasion, 
as he had been two years before in the great debate between 
himself and Mr. Webster, and Mr. Clay stood forth as the 
advocate and defender of the protective policy, as Mr. Webster 
then had done as " the great expounder of the Constitution." 
Both occasions called forth great eloquence and abilities, and 
a debate in which the whole country took a deep and lively 
interest. The friends of the respective doctrines and policy 



CLAY'S REVENUE BILL. in I 

upheld and advocated could not have desired or found abler 
advocates. 

Mr. Clay replied to Mr. Hayne in a speech which occupied 
two days; but the great crowd who attended each day manifested 
no signs of weariness. 

He spoke of the distressed and depressed condition of the 
country, — the stagnation in business of all kinds; bankruptcies 
and failures during the period of seven years preceding the 
passage of the tariff act of 1824, which he designated as the 
period of the greatest adversity the country had witnessed ; 
claimed that the seven years succeeding the passage of that 
act was a period of the greatest prosperity; spoke of the 
present flourishing condition of the country; contended that 
all the predictions of evil results from that act had proved false, 
while all the beneficial effects anticipated by its advocates had 
been more than realized. He referred to the act of 1792, the 
second act passed by the First Congress, as establishing the 
principle of protection and adopting the policy as the true one 
for the country ; reviewed the history of the countr}^ down to 
18 16, and spoke of the tariff act of that year; that when he 
acted with Mr. Calhoun, side by side, with perhaps less zeal 
than he (Mr. Calhoun) exhibited, he did not understand him 
then as considering the policy forbidden by the Constitution. 

Mr. Calhoun (Vice-President) here interposed, and said the 
constitutional question was not debated at that time. 

Mr. Clay. — "True; but why not? Becaus'c it was not de- 
batable, — was never made a distinct, tangible question until 
1820." He then spoke of the tariff acts of 1824 and 1828, and 
said that the latter was made as bad as possible by its enemies 
in order to render it odious and destroy the system ; of the 
effect of manufactures upon the Western States; of South Caro- 
lina refusing, in ill humor, to take the productions of Kentucky; 
and, finally, of the conciliatory spirit in which he had brought 
forward this measure. 

Colonel Benton, giving an account of this debate, designates 
this as " Mr. Clay's great speech." It was one of his greatest 
efforts. 

The debate thus opened became one of absorbing interest in 



192 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



both branches of Congress, nearly every prominent Senator 
and the ablest speakers in the House sharing in it. It was an 
irritating subject to the South, and in discussing it the members 
from that section, especially from South Carolina, indulged in the 
most intemperate expressions permissible in a deliberative body. 
The friends of the protective policy, though less intemperate 
in their language, were no less firm in their adherence to their 
traditional policy and earnest in its support. 

A BRUTAL ASSAULT ON A MEMBER OF THE HOUSE. 

As if to increase the irritation of the public mind to a state 
of exasperation, a personal assault of a brutal character was 
made upon a member of Congress, for words spoken in debate, 
by a personal and political friend of the President. Mr. Stan- 
berry, of Ohio, was assailed and knocked down with a heavy 
cane by General Houston, of Tennessee. The matter was next 
day brought before the House by a note addressed to the 
Speaker by Mr. Stanberry, who was unable to attend in his 
place in the House. The outrage was perpetrated on the 13th 
of April, 1832, and the case was not finally disposed of until 
the 14th of May. Upon the assault being made known in the 
House, the feeling became intense. 

General Vance, the colleague of Mr. Stanberry, submitted a 
resolution directing the Speaker to issue his warrant to bring 
Samuel Houston before the House. 

Mr. Polk, of Tennessee, opposed it. A warm debate followed. 

General Vance put a hypothetical case, — supposing the Ex- 
ecutive, for the purpose of defeating a measure, etc., should get 
some of " his myrmidons" to knock down members, etc. 

The House well understood that in this parliamentary form 
the charge was made against the President of instigating this 
attack, and that General Houston was one of the " myrmidons" 
of the Executive. 

In the use of this word, and in making this indirect charge 
upon the President, General Vance but expressed the gen- 
eral feeling, if not of the House, at least of the opposition in 
and out of it. But the word rankled like a dart, and served 
only to provoke the friends of Jackson. 



ASSAULT ON A MEMBER OF THE HOUSE. jg^ 

Mr. Philip Doddridge, of Virginia, one of the ablest men in 
the House, and an old member, declared that the measure 
proposed by General Vance ought to be adopted without dis- 
cussion, unless gentlemen meant deliberately to give notice 
to the world that they would permit a band of assassins to 
waylay and murder as many members as they pleased. 

Colonel Drayton, of South Carolina, than whom no one was 
.more respected and beloved, — a very Bayard, sans peur et sans 
reproche, — desired the House should be deeply impressed with 
the sentiment that when 6nce the day should arrive when 
freedom of discussion in that hall should be restrained, the 
pillars of the Constitution would totter, and the fair temple of 
our liberties must speedily fall. Would any man tell him that 
freedom of debate could be preserved if a member of that body, 
for words spoken in his place as a representative, was to suffer 
personal violence ? It was the lawless violence of brutal and 
infuriated mobs that intimidated and governed the Constituent 
Assembly of France, and that dictated an unsparing proscrip- 
tion which filled the prisons and reared the guillotine. 

Colonel Drayton proceeded at some length in this strain, 
carrying with him the sympathies of the House, save a few 
members. 

Great excitement prevailed, and the debate became very 
acrimonious. A few of the Jackson men denied the power 
of the House to issue the process, and opposed the resolu- 
tion, which was passed, — 145 to 25. 

The case went to a select committee for investigation, and 
before which Mr. Houston appeared with counsel. The com- 
mittee reported to the House the fact of the unjustifiable 
assault, — a violation of the privileges of the House, — and a 
resolution, which was adopted, that Samuel Houston be 
brought before the bar of the House and reprimanded by the: 
Speaker. 

On the day fixed, he was brought in by the Sergeant-at-arms, 
and a chair set for him in. the area in front of the Speaker (Mr. 
Stevenson). 

On being addressed by the Speaker by name, Mr. Houston- 
rose and stood till the Speaker pronounced the reprimand. 

13 



194 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



He was then discharged ; but the feehng- created by this 
transaction was far from being allayed. Members felt that 
they were in a reign of terror, and liable at any time to be 
attacked for the part they were taking in the House. A mere 
reprimand for a brutal assault on a member for words spoken 
in debate was rather a lame and impotent conclusion, and 
called forth severe comment, 

ATTEMPT OF HEARD TO ASSASSINATE ARNOLD. 

That members should have a constant apprehension of vio- 
lence cannot excite surprise, since on the very day Houston 
was reprimanded, and after the performance of that ceremony, 
W. D. Arnold, a member of the House from Tennessee, was 
attacked while on his way from the House after its adjourn- 
ment, and in the midst of members. 

The following is a portion of the statement of the affair in 
the "United States Telegraph" of the 15th May: 

"Attempted Assassination. — After the House of Representa- 
tives had adjourned yesterday, as Mr. Arnold, of Tennessee, 
was descending the steps of the terrace into the street, in ad- 
vance of other members, he was assaulted by Morgan A. Heard, 
who had a pistol carrying an ounce ball, which he fired at Mr. 
A. With a small sword-cane the latter struck the pistol, and 
thus probably saved his life. He then knocked Heard down : 
the scabbard flew off his sword, and he was about to pierce 
Heard, when his arm was arrested by a member. 

" The case presents a remarkable interposition of Providence. 
The House had just adjourned; there were near a hundred 
members of Congress in the range of the ball, which passed 
near Mr. Tazewell's head." 

Of course the affair was bruited over the city immediately, 
and added greatly to the feverish state of public feeling here 
and throughout the country. 

Mr. Arnold came into the hall next morning fully armed, 
and, proceeding to his seat, laid the big Heard pistol on his 
desk, but retained pocket-pistols in his belt. Members, of 
course, gathered round him to see the pistol Heard had used. 
No proceedings were taken in relation to this last assault. 



YOUNG MEN'S NATIONAL CONVENTION. 



195 



The assaulted member gave notice that he wanted no pro- 
tection from the House; that he could protect himself. 

YOUNG men's national CONVENTION. 

On the 7th of May, 1832, a national convention of young 
men assembled at Washington, and organized by electing Wil- 
liam Cost Johnson, of Maryland, its President ; Charles James 
Faulkner, of Virginia, William Pitt Fessenden, of Maine, and 
George W. Burnet, of Ohio, Vice-Presidents. The convention, 
of which I was a member, consisted of three hundred and sixteen 
delegates, representing almost every State. Politically, it was a 
National Republican convention, but AV'as dubbed, facetiously, 
"Clay's Infant-School." But, "infant" or adult "school," it 
was made up of the very elite of the nation, and numbered 
among its delegates not a few young men of highly cultivated 
minds, brilliant talents, and captivating oratorical powers, of 
which they gave proof in speeches made in the convention. A 
considerable number of these young men afterwards filled high 
positions in public life, as governors, Senators and Represent- 
atives in Congress, ministers abroad, judges, etc. Among the 
most brilliant speakers of the convention were Brantz Ma}-er, 
of Baltimore, Edward G. Prescott, of Boston, Messrs. Duer 
and Graham, of New York, Mr. Hanna, of Philadelphia, Messrs. 
Cost Johnson and Bradford, of Maryland, Mr, Faulkner, of 
Virginia, Mr. Kinnicut, of Massachusetts, and Mr. Wm. Pitt 
Fessenden, of Maine. 

The object of the convention was simply to confirm and ap- 
prove the action of the National Republican Convention which 
had nominated Henry Clay and John Sergeant as candidates 
for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency. 

Near the close of the session of the convention, which sat 
several days, Mr, Clay was invited to be present and address 
that body, and, having consented, a committee waited upon and 
accompanied him to the convention, when he was welcomed in 
a neat address by Mr. Charles James Faulkner, vice-president, 
in the absence of the president (Cost Johnson), and addressed 
the body in his usual felicitous manner, on the topics of the day. 

Before adjourning, the convention appointed a committee of 



196 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



one from each State represented, and one from the District of 
Columbia, to wait upon the venerable Charles Carroll, of Car- 
rollton, to express to him the high sense of the members of the 
convention of the virtues of himself and associates, and of their 
labors in the great cause of national union and independence. 

The committee assembled at Baltimore, and, in discharge of 
the duty assigned them, waited, by appointment, on Mr. Car- 
roll, whom Mr. Brantz Mayer, as chairman of the committee, 
addressed in- a short but touching speech. 

IMr. Carroll was highly gratified by this expression of the 
feelings of the young men of the United States, and hoped 
they might enjoy through life, and transmit to posterity, the 
noble institutions of this happy land. 

But few of the "young men" who constituted that body are 
now living; and the few who are, are now venerable grand- 
fathers and great-grandfathers, but they have not, I am sure, 
forgotten the scenes and incidents of that day. They will not 
have forgotten the zeal and activity of " Bobby Horner" in 
taking care to provide funds for expenses, and in making all 
arrangements for visiting Mount Vernon. They cannot have 
forgotten the burst of applause which Brantz Mayer brought 
out when speaking of " the battle of New Orleans, that spring- 
board from which General Jackson vaulted into the Presidential 
saddle !" They cannot have forgotten the visit of Henry Clay 
to the convention, when many of them for the first time saw 
face to face, and took by the hand, him whom they had long 
admired. They cannot have forgotten their visits to Mr. Adams, 
Mr. Webster, and Mr. Calhoun, of whom they had heard so 
much, but whom many of them had never seen ; nor the very 
eloquent and feeling address to them of one of their members, 
— Mr. Bradford (one of the few survivors), late Governor of 
Maryland, — after their return from Mount Vernon. 

REJECTION OF THE NOMINATION OF MR. VAN BUREN AS MINISTER 

TO ENGLAND. 

I have, in its proper place, noticed the appointment of Mr. 
Van Buren as minister to England. His nomination as such 
now came before the Senate for confirmation, and met decided 



REJECTION OF THE NOMINATION OF VAN BUREN jq^ 

opposition, on the ground, chiefly, of the instructions given 
to Mr. McLane, as minister to England, in regard to the West 
India trade. 

The following are extracts from Mr. Van Buren's instructions 
to which exceptions were taken : 

" The opportunities which you have derived from a parti- 
cipation in our public councils, as well as other sources of 
information, will enable you to speak with confidence of the 
respective parts taken by those to whom the administration of 
this government is now committed, in relation to the course 
heretofore pursued upon the subject of the colonial trade. Their 
views upon that point have been submitted to the people of the 
United States, and the counsels by which your conduct is now 
directed are the result of the judgment expressed by the only 
earthly tribunal to which the late administration was amenable 
for its acts. It should be sufficient that the claims set up by 
them, and which caused the interruption of the trade in ques- 
tion, have been explicitly abandoned by those who first asserted 
them, and are not revived by their successors. , . . To set 
up the acts of the late administration as the cause of forfeit- 
ure of privileges which would otherwise be extended to the 
people of the United States, would, under existing circum- 
stances, be unjust in itself, and could not fail to excite the 
deepest sensibility. . . . You cannot press this view of the 
subject too earnestly upon the consideration of the British 
ministry. 

" I will add nothing as to the impropriety of suffering any 
feelings that find their origin in the past pretensions of this 
government to have an adverse influence upon the present 
conduct of Great Britain." 

The speeches of the leading Senators in opposition to the con- 
firmation of this nomination, though severe in their comments 
upon these instructions, were of a manly, patriotic character. 
Mr. Van Buren was not assailed, but his official acts as Secre- 
tary of State, — the begging as a boon to the party now just 
come into power what the government had for many years 
justly demanded as a right, and styling those demands "claims" 



198 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



and "pretensions." It was his lack of national feeling which 
called forth the condemnation of Senators. In addressing the 
Senate against the confirmation of the nomination, Mr. Web- 
ster declared that the pervading topic through the whole letter 
of instructions is, not American rights, not American defense, 
but denunciations of past ^'pretensions'^ of our own country, 
reflections on the past administration, and exultation and a loud 
claim of merit for the administration now in power. " Sir," 
said Mr. Webster, " I would forgive mistakes ; I would pardon 
the want of information ; I would pardon almost anything, 
where I saw true patriotism and sound American feeling ; but 
I cannot forgive the sacrifice of this feeling to mere party. I 
cannot concur in sending abroad a public agent who has not 
conceptions so large and liberal as to feel that in the presence 
of foreign courts, amidst the monarchies of Europe, he is to 
stand up for his country, and his whole country; that no jot 
or tittle of her honor is to come to harm in his hands ; that he 
is not to suffer others to reproach either his government or his 
country, and far less is he himself to reproach either ; that he 
is to have no objects in his eye but American objects, and no 
heart in his bosom but an American heart ; and that he is to 
forget self, to forget party, to forget every sinister and narrow 
feeling, in his proud and lofty attachment to the republic whose 
commission he bears." 

Mr. Clayton said, "Our minister did as he was ordered to 
do. He ' entreated,' and ' appealed,' and ' begged,' and ' prayed,' 
and ' regretted,' and ' solicited,' and ' hoped to be excused,' and 
confessed we had been in the zvrong, instead of repelling with 
dignity the insolence and sarcasm of the British ministry, until 
the contemptible boon was ' granted' and the national character 
effectually degraded. 

" Let us say to the British government this day, by our vote, 
that we never consented to the disgrace which has befallen us, 
and that we prefer to recall the minister who has dishonored 
us, to all the pretended benefits of this miserable negotiation." 

Mr. Clay, after commenting upon the instructions character- 
izing our position in the controversy under former adminis- 



REJECTION OF THE NOMINA TION OF VAN BUR EN. jgo 

trations as " pj'etensmts," " claivis explicitly abandojicd" pro- 
ceeded : 

"On our side, according to Mr. Van Buren, all was wrong; 
on the British side, all was right. We brought forward nothing 
but claims 7s.ndi pretensions ; the British government asserted, on 
the other hand, a clear and incontestable right. We erred in 
too tenaciously and too long insisting upon our pretensions, 
and not yielding at once to the force of their just demands. 
And j\Ir. McLane was commanded to avail himself of all the 
circumstances in his power to mitigate our offense, and to dis- 
suade the British government from allowing their feelings, justly 
incurred by the past conduct of the party driven from power, 
to have an adverse influence towards the American party now 
in power. Sir, was this becoming language from one inde- 
pendent nation to another? Was it proper in the mouth of 
an American minister? Was it in conformity with the high, 
unsullied, and dignified character of our previous diplomacy? 
Was it not, on the contrary, the language of an humble vassal 
to a proud and haughty lord ? Was it not prostrating and 
degrading the American eagle before the British lion ?" 

The American people have for forty years past heard much 
of the " spoils" of the enemy being the right of " the victors ;" 
a sentiment first announced in the Senate by Mr. Marcy, of 
New York. The speech in which this doctrine or rule was 
announced was a part of this debate. Mr. Marcy, in replying 
to Mr. Clay and defending i\Ir. Van Buren, said, — 

" The occasion which rendered it proper that he should say 
something had arisen in consequence of what had fallen from 
the honorable Senator from Kentucky [Mr. Clay]. His attack 
was not confined to the nominee ; it reached the State which 
he []\Ir. Marcy] represented in this body. One of the grounds 
of opposition to the minister to London taken by the Senator 
from Kentucky was the pernicious system of party politics 
adopted by the present administration, by which the honors 
and offices were put up to be scrambled for by partisans, etc., 
a system which the minister to London, as the Senator from 
Kentucky alleged, had brought here from the State in which 



200 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

he formerly lived and had for so long a time acted a conspicu- 
ous part in its political transactions. I know, sir, that it is the 
habit of some gentlemen to speak with censure or reproach of 
the politics of New York. Like other States, we have con- 
tests, and, as a necessary consequence, triumphs and defeats. 
******** 

" It may be, sir, that the politicians of the State of New 
York are not so fastidious as some gentlemen are, as to dis- 
closing the principles on which they act. They boldly preach 
what they practice. When they are contending for victoiy 
they avow their intention of enjoying the fruits of it. If they 
are defeated, they expect to retire from office. If they are 
successful, they claim, as a matter of right, the advantages of 
success. They see nothing wrong in the rule, that to the 

VICTOR BELONG THE SPOILS OF THE ENEMY." 

This last sentence has given more eclat to Mr. Marcy's name 
than all else he ever wrote or did. As Governor of New York, 
as Secretary of War, and as Secretary of State, he and all his 
sayings and doings may be forgotten, if they have not been 
already; but as the Senator who first proclaimed that the 
offices of the government were the "spoils" for which the two 
parties contended, — virtually declaring that principles, or gov- 
ernment policy, were of no moment, — his name will go down 
to posterity. 

Mr. Webster called attention to the fact that Congress itself 
had sanctioned what Mr. Van Buren denominated our "pre- 
tension," by the act of March ist, 1823, for which the Senator 
from Maryland (Mr, Smith), who had defended the minister, 
and Mr. Van Buren himself, voted. How the latter could have 
overlooked or forgotten this act, he could not conceive. 

Mr. Van Buren was defended by his friends, but the nomi- 
nation was rejected by the casting vote of the Vice-President 
(Mr. Calhoun), being designedly so arranged by the anti-Jack- 
son Senators. 

MOVEMENT TO BRING GENERAL JACKSON OUT FOR A SECOND TERM. 

It being understood by General Jackson's supporters from 
the beginning that he was opposed to a President's holding the 



A SECOND -TERM MOVEMENT. 20I 

office for more than one term, it became necessary for his 
friends who desired his election for a second term to take some 
steps to have it appear that the people demanded his re-election. 
It has been stated by Wm. B. Lewis, General Jackson's most 
trusted friend, that before the close of 1829 the general had 
made up his mind to do all that in him lay to elect Mr. Van 
Buren as his successor to the Presidency; and with that object 
in view he wrote a letter to his friend Judge Overton, of Ten- 
nessee, the secret purpose of which the judge never knew, but 
which was to be explained, if circumstances should require the 
use of the letter, by Mr. Lewis. At that time General Jack- 
son's health was infirm, and it was doubted by himself whether 
he would live to the end of his first term. But he did; and 
he, Mr. Van Buren, and their confidential friends saw that the 
country was not ready to make Mr. Van Buren General Jack- 
son's successor, and therefore Mr. Van Buren insisted on the 
general's running a second time. 

But how was he to be brought on the course ? Mr. Lewis 
was equal to the occasion. On the nth of March, 1830, he 
addressed a letter to Colonel L. C. Stambaugh, of Harris- 
burg, Pennsylvania, in which he says, " With regard to General 
Jackson's serving another term it would be improper in me, 
perhaps, situated as I am, to say anything; but, my dear sir, 
almost every friend he has, I mean real friend, thinks with 
you that there is no other way by which the great Republican 
party, who brought him into power, can be preserved. Clay's 
friends are beginning to hold up their heads again ; their 
countenances are brightening because of the anticipated split 
between the friends of those who aspire to succeed the present 
chief magistrate. 

" I do not think it would be proper for General Jackson to 
avow at this time his determination to serve another term, nor 
do I think it would be prudent for his friends here to take the 
lead in placing his name before the nation for re-election. Ac- 
cording to the general's own principles (always practiced on by 
him), he cannot decline serving again if called on by the people. 

" I am not authorized to say that he would permit his name 



202 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

to be used again, but, knowing him as I do, I feel co7ifidcnt that 
if he beHeved the interests of the country required it, and it was 
the wish of the people he should serve another term, he would 
not hesitate one moment. If, then, it is the desire of your State 
that he should serve another term, let the members of her Legis- 
lature express the sentiments of the people upon that subject. But 
let it be done in such a way as not to make it necessary for 
him to speak in relation to the matter. Such an expression of 
public sentiment would come with better grace from Penn- 
sylvania than any other quarter, and would have a powerful 
effect, — because of her well-known Democratic principles, and 
because she has always been the general's strongest friend. 
If anything is done in the business^ the sooner the better. 

" Yours sincerely, 

"W. B. Lewis."* 

Inclosed in this letter was one drawn up by Mr. Lewis, 
dated Harrisburg, March 20, 1830, addressed to" His Excellency 
Andreiv Jackson, President of the United States," intended to be 
signed by the members of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, and 
which was -signed by sixty-eight members. This address to 
General Jackson, thus signed, was immediately published in 
the Harrisburg " Pennsylvania Reporter." Of course it made 
a great sensation in the political world, as up to that time 
General Jackson was considered irrevocably committed to a 
single term. 

Mr. Lewis himself relatesf that this first movement towards 
bringing the general out for a second term was followed up 
by the Legislatures of New York and Ohio principally on his 
suggestions and advice to the friends of the administration in 
those States, and that he wrote many letters urging the abso- 
lute necessity of such a step as the most effectual way of defeat- 
ing the machinations of Mr. Calhoun and his friends, who were 
resolved on forcing General Jackson from the Presidential chair 
after one term. 

He goes on to explain that Mr. Calhoun's second term as 

* Parton's Life of Jackson, 
f See Parton's Life of Jackson. 



BALTIMORE JACKSON NATIONAL CONVENTION. 203 

Vice-President was drawing to a close, that it would not do to 
run him for a third term, and that his friends did not wish him 
to retire to private life for four years ; they therefore resolved 
to get rid of the general on the ground that it was under- 
stood, during the canvass, that in case he should be elected he 
would serve but four years.* It was to defeat this project of 
the Vice-President, Major Lewis says, that this movement was 
made. " The scheme," he says, " succeeded admirably, and in 
a {q.\^ months the hopes of Mr. Calhoun and his friends were 
completely withered." 

And thus was Mr. Calhoun paid for abandoning Mr. Adams, 
going over to General Jackson, and laboring with such ex- 
traordinary zeal to overthrow Mr. Adams's administration. 
Nemesis was ever on his track. 

BALTIMORE JACKSON NATIONAL CONVENTION. — NOMINATION OF 
MR. VAN BUREN AS VICE-PRESIDENT. 

Thus was General Jackson already in the field as candidate 
for President for a second term. But it was necessary to hold 
a national convention, not only formally to nominate him, but 
to nominate a candidate for Vice-President. This convention 
was held at Baltimore on the 21st of May, 1832, and it was 
well known that it was General Jackson's pleasure that Mr, 
Van Buren should be the candidate. Besides this, Mr. Van 
Buren's nomination as minister to England had just been re- 
jected by the Whigs and Calhoun men, — by Calhoun's own 
casting vote, — reasons enough why he should be thus nomi- 
nated; and he was accordingly placed on the ticket with Gen- 
eral Jackson. But in two States, namely, Pennsylvania and 
South Carolina, he was so unpopular that neither would vote 
for him. 

The anti-Jackson men in the Senate, including Mr. Calhoun 
and Mr. Hayne, believed, and expressed their belief, that the 
exposure of the humiliating and anti-American instructions of 
Mr. Van Buren to Mr. McLane in regard to the West India 
controversy would seriously injure his hold on the American 

* General Jackson at this veiy time recommended in his annual messages the 
alteration of the Constitution so as to prevent a President from being re-elected. 



204 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



people. But it is quite certain that it did not affect him to 
the amount of a single vote. He had always been obnoxious 
to Pennsylvania ; and in South Carolina, considered, as he was, 
the enemy of Mr. Calhoun, he could look for support only 
from the anti-Calhoun party. But Jackson's popularity was 
sufficient to overcome all objections among his supporters 
elsewhere and triumphantly elect him. This fondness of " the 
old hero" for "the little magician," as he was termed, gave rise 
to many amusing caricatures and squibs and much doggerel. 
The President was represented as an old granny with the little 
pet in his lap, feeding him with a pap-spoon, fondling and sooth- 
ing him, granny-like. 

But all efforts to cast ridicule upon him and the President 
he could afford to treat with scorn. " Let him laugh who wins." 
All such attempts only seemed to endear him the more to 
" the old hero," whose confidence and favor he knew well how 
to win and preserve. 

Mr. Van Buren's good nature and complacency could scarcely 
be moved by any amount of sarcasm, wit, pasquinade, carica- 
ture, or ridicule. All such missiles fell upon him as harmless as 
water upon a duck's back. He possessed a happy philosophy 
which enabled him to laugh as heartily at all such attempts to 
injure him as if they were not aimed at him. This self-control, 
amiability, and imperturbable composure undoubtedly consti- 
tuted his strength, and enabled him to navigate successfully the 
troubled waters of politics when others, possessing more talent 
but less tact, were wrecked or engulfed. His object was suc- 
cess; and whether this was to be attained by supporting this 
measure or that, or this man or that, was a question to be de- 
cided by weighing all the probabilities, pro and con. He could 
not say, as Mr. Clay did, " I had rather be right than be Presi- 
dent," and probably could hardly conceive that Mr. Clay could 
be sincere in such a declaration. 

"The evil which men do lives after them." 

He brought the corrupting practice, described by Mr. Marcy 
as prevailing in New York, to Washington, where it soon took 
deep root, and still flourishes. 



PROCEEDS OF THE PUBLIC LANDS. 



205 



It seems to have been the wish of General Jackson, as early 
as 1830, before Mr. Van Buren departed on his mission to 
England, that he should be the candidate of the party for 
Vice-President on the ticket with him; and Mr. Lewis, the 
adroit manager of party movements, was the contriver of the 
plan by which the desired object was effected. 

DISTRIBUTION OF THE PROCEEDS OF THE PUBLIC LANDS, 

As it was customary for the committee on manufactures of 
the Senate, forty years ago, to have charge of all tariff ques- 
tions, and as Mr. Clay was the great champion of the protectiv^e 
policy, on entering the Senate he was placed on that committee, 
at the head of which was Mr. Dickinson, of New Jersey, a Jack- 
son tariff man. 

At this time the public debt was nearly or quite extinguished ; 
the receipts from the customs were large, and from the sales of 
the public lands unusually so. The treasury was, consequently, 
full, and a large surplus over and above the expenses of the 
government was accumulating. Under this condition of the 
finances, it became a puzzling question what should be done 
with the public lands. It was a question of immense impor- 
tance, but one which all desired to avoid handling, as it was sup- 
posed that no plan could be devised to dispose of them that 
would not bring down upon its author the hostility either of 
the West and Southwest, or of the North, East, and Atlantic 
Southern States. 

In this dilemma, the Jackson men in the Senate, being in the 
majority, bethought them of a smart piece of strategy, namely, 
to refer the subject of the public lands to the committee on 
manufactures ! The proposition was resisted by the members 
of that committee, and the National Republican Senators gen- 
erally, as absurd. It was asked what this committee had to do 
with the public lands. How could it be expected that they 
should know anything about them, especially as Mr. Clay was 
the only man from the West on the committee, and he was not 
from a State having public lands? Why not refer the subject 
to the committee on public lands, which was made up, with 
a single exception, of Senators from those States where these 



2o6 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

lands were situated, and who were supposed to be familiar with 
the subject? 

As it was the purpose of this movement to embarrass Mr. 
Clay, these arguments had no weight whatever. The subject 
was forced upon that committee and upon Mr. Clay, and he 
took it up, resolved to master it. His report upon it, which he 
presented to the Senate in due time, elicited high and universal 
commendation in every part of the United States. This was 
a result which his political opponents in the Senate had not 
counted on or dreamed of. Instead of compelling him to 
injure himself with this two-edged weapon they had thrust 
into his hands, they had unwittingly done him a very great 
favor, and got themselves into a bramble-bush from which they 
could extricate themselves only by backing squarely out, thus 
acknowledging their stupidity and evil design, and making 
themselves ridiculous. 

The conclusion to which the committee came is comprised 
in a bill accompanying the report, entitled "A bill to appro- 
priate for a limited time the proceeds of the public lands of the 
United States." 

The title of the bill indicates the plan of the committee to 
relieve the plethoric treasury of the United States of its accu- 
mulating surplus. It provided that the proceeds of the sales 
of the lands should be distributed to the different States in the 
ratio of their respective federal representative population. To 
this plan neither the new nor the old States objected. But 
Mr. King, of Alabama, chairman of the committee on public 
lands, some weeks after the report had been made, gave notice 
that he should embrace the first opportunity to move that the 
bill reported be referred to the committee on public lands, in 
order that a fair report might be made ! 

Subsequently he spoke at length on the subject. But when 
it was known that Mr. Clay was to reply to him on this sub- 
ject, the galleries were, as usual, filled to overflowing, a con- 
siderable portion of the audience being ladies. When, at the 
proper time, Mr. Clay moved to take up the subject, Mr. 
Forsyth interposed a motion, seconded by Mr. Tazewell, that 
the Senate should go into executive session. But, to the credit 



PROCEEDS OF THE PUBLIC LANDS. 



207 



of that body, the motion was promptly and almost unanimously 
negatived. This manoeuvre was noticed by Mr. Clay, who said 
that, " in rising to address the Senate, he owed, in the first 
place, the expression of his hearty thanks to the majority, by 
whose vote, just given, he was indulged in occupying the floor 
on this most important question. . . . Their decision demon- 
strated that feelings of liberality and courtesy and kindness 
still prevailed in the Senate ; and that they would be extended 
even to one of the humblest members of the body, as he was." 

Alluding to the extraordinary reference of the subject of the 
public lands to the committee on manufactures, he remarked, 
" I have nothino; to do with the motives of honorable Senators 
who composed the majority by which the reference was ordered. 
The decorum proper in this hall obliges me to consider their 
motives to have been pure and patriotic. But still I must be 
permitted to regard the proceeding as very unusual. The 
Senate has a standing committee on the public lands, ap- 
pointed under long-established rules. The members of that 
committee are presumed to be well acquainted with the sub- 
ject; they have, some of them, occupied the same station for 
many years, are well versed in the whole legislation on the 
public lands, and familiar with every branch of it, — four out of 
five of them come from the new States. 

" Yet, with a full knowledge of all these circumstances, a 
reference was ordered by a majority of the Senate to the com- 
mittee on manufactures, — a committee than which there was 
not another standing committee of the Senate whose prescribed 
duties were more incongruous with the public domain. It 
happened, in the construction of the committee on manufac- 
tures, that there was not a solitary Senator from the new States, 
and but one from any Western State. The committee earnestly 
protested, but in vain. I will not attempt an expression of the 
feelings excited in my mind on that occasion. Whatever may 
have been the intention of honorable Senators, I could not be 
insensible to the embarrassment in which the committee of 
manufactures was placed, and especially myself Although 
any other member of that committee would have rendered 
himself, with appropriate researches and proper time, more 



2o8 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

competent than I was to understand the subject of the public 
lands, it was known that, from my local position, I alone was 
supposed to have any particular knowledge of them. What- 
ever emanated from the committee was likely, therefore, to be 
ascribed to me. If the committee should propose a measure 
of great liberality towards the new States, the old States might 
complain. If the measure should seem to lean towards the 
old States, the new might be dissatisfied. And if it inclined 
to neither class of States, but recommended a plan according 
to which there would be distributed impartial justice among all 
the States, it was far from certain that any would be pleased. 

" Without attributing to honorable Senators the purpose of 
producing this personal embarrassment, I felt it, as a necessary 
consequence from their act, just as imicli as if it had been in 
their conte^nplation. 

" The report and bill were hardly read in the Senate before 
they were violently denounced, and they were not considered 
in the Senate before a proposition was made to refer the report 
to that very committee of the public lands, to which, in the 
first instance, I contended the subject ought to have been as- 
signed. It was in vain that we remonstrated against such a 
proceeding as unprecedented, as implying unmerited censure on 
the committee on manufactures. ... In spite of our remon- 
strances, the same majority, with but little, if any, variation, 
which originally resolved to refer the subject to the committee 
on manufactures, determined to commit the bill to the land 
committee," 

As a specimen of a cool, calm, caustic parliamentary rebuke, 
and of severe criticism, this speech has few equals. 

The bill was finally referred to the committee on public 
lands ; but it availed them nothing, for it passed the Senate 
at this session, and the House of Representatives at the next, 
although the committee on public lands, through their chair- 
man, Mr. King, made a vigorous counter-report, 

THE TARIFF BILL OF 1 832 AGAIN, 

Two other important measures were brought forward at 
the first session of the Twenty-second Congress, namely, a 



THE CASE OF THE CHEROKEES AGAIN. 2OQ 

tariff bill, and the "Enforcement," or "Force bilir The tariff 
bill, introduced early in the session by Mr. Clay, underwent 
a most elaborate and heated discussion in both branches of 
Congress, but especially in the House, where the language of 
Mr. McDuffie and other Southern members was violent and 
denunciatory. It would hardly be worth while to repeat this 
language at the present day. The bill passed, only to be 
repealed by the " Compromise act" at the next session. 

The subjects which were brought before the Twenty-second 
Congress during the first and second sessions were many and 
of the greatest importance. Of two of these, namely, the tariff 
bill and the Land Distribution bill, I have spoken ; but the ap- 
plication by the president and directors of the Bank of the 
United States for a re-charter, the bill introduced for that pur- 
pose, the debate thereon, its passage by the two Houses, and 
its veto by the President, were of absorbing interest to the 
whole country. 

THE CASE OF THE CHEROKEES AGAIN. 

The State of Georgia, as we have already seen, extended 
her laws over the country occupied by the Creek Indians; 
she also extended them over the country occupied by the 
Cherokee Indians within the borders of that State as de- 
fined by the charter from the King of England. She claimed 
that these lands belonged to her, and that she had a right to 
disregard the laws and usages of the Cherokees and assume 
jurisdiction and authority over them and all others in that 
territory. Among her laws was one, recently passed, making 
it a misdemeanor for any white person to reside in what was- 
called the Cherokee nation without a license from that State. 
Two persons, missionaries to the Indians, were residing in the- 
Cherokee country at the time this law was passed, and had. 
been residing there for several years. As they did not recog- 
nize the right of Georgia thus to extend her laws and assume, 
jurisdiction over a country which never had belonged to her,, 
they did not heed the law, and were consequently arrested, 
indicted, convicted, sentenced to the State prison, and impris- 
oned. They then, by their counsel, Mr. Sergeant and Mr. Wirt, 

14 



210 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, before 
which tribunal the case was ably argued, exciting the deepest 
interest not only at the capital and in the court, but through- 
out the whole country. Chief-Justice Marshall delivered the 
opinion of the court, which was long and exhaustive, reversing 
the opinion of the Georgia court, and declaring the recent acts 
of that State, taking possession of the Cherokee country and 
providing for the punishment of persons residing therein with- 
out the license of the governor, etc., to be contrary to the Con- 
stitution, laws, and treaties of the United States, and therefore 
null and void. The Supreme Court then ordered the prisoners, 
Samuel A. Worcester and Elizur Butler, to be released. 

The Chief-Justice reviewed the origin of the European title 
to lands in America upon the ground of discovery. This right, he 
demonstrated, was merely conventional among European gov- 
ernments, and in no respects changed, or affected to change, the 
rights of the Indians as the occupants of the soil. They were 
treated as nations capable of holding and ceding their territories, 
capable of making treaties and compacts, and entitled to all the 
powers of peace and war, not as conquered or enslaved com- 
munities. They had always been considered as distinct, inde- 
pendent political communities, retaining their natural rights as 
the undisputed possessors of the soil from time immemorial. 
The very term " nation," so generally applied to them, means 
a people distinct from all others. The United States had so 
treated them, and had made many treaties with them. The 
Chief-Justice spoke especially of the treaty of Hopewell be- 
tween the Cherokees and this government, negotiated July, 
1 79 1, which recognizes them as a nation, which fixes the 
boundaries between the two contracting powers, and solemnly 
guarantees on the part of the United States the peaceable pos- 
session of all their lands not conveyed by this treaty. This 
relation of the Cherokees to the United States had been sol- 
emnly recognized by Georgia down to the year 1829, 

This celebrated case is fully reported in Peters's Reports, to 
which the reader is referred. 

The decision was, that the acts of Georgia are repugnant to 
the Constitution, laws, and treaties of the United States. 



THE CASE OF THE CHEROKEES AGAIN. 2II 

The decree of the court was that the prisoners should be 
released. Will it be believed, at this day, that the State of 
Georgia refused to obey the mandate of the court, that the 
President of the United States refused to execute it or to 
order its execution, and that it never was executed, but was 
treated not only as a nullity, but with scorn and derision ? 

The President, on this occasion, set up the extraordinary 
pretension that he was not bound by the decision of the Supreme 
Court ; that he was an independent, co-ordinate department of 
the government, and had a right to execute the Constitution 
as HE UNDERSTOOD IT, and not as any court understood it. 
Can it be believed that such was the fealty of party, such the 
habit of declaring, if not believing, that " the old hero" could 
neither do nor say anything wrong, that his partisans at once 
adopted the dogma, and boldly claimed that he was as much 
the judge of what was constitutional or unconstitutional as the 
Supreme Court, of which he was perfectly independent? Such 
was the ground taken by the government paper at the capital, 
others, among them the "Albany Argus," following its lead. 

Strong as was once the feeling, especially among the Friends, 
Methodists, and other religious sects, in the United States, in 
regard to the treatment of the Cherokees and the imprisonment 
of the missionaries by the Georgians, there are few now living 
who have any recollection of the matter or any knowledge of 
those transactions ; and the monstrous claim of the President, 
which grew out of the decision of the court and the reluctance 
of General Jackson to fall out with Georgia, is as completely 
forgotten as if it had been asserted a hundred years ago. 

This extraordinary claim of General Jackson and his parti- 
sans for him received its quietus from the Supreme Court of 
the United States in the case of Amos Kendall, Postmaster- 
General, vs. the United States, ex relatione Stockton, Stokes & 
Co., reported in 12th Howard's Reports. The opinion of the 
court was the production of Mr. Justice Smith Thompson. That 
opinion, as read in court, contained the following paragraph : 

" It was urged at the bar that the Postmaster-General was 
alone subject to the direction and control of the President with 
respect to the duties imposed upon him by this law, and this 



212 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

right of the President is claimed as growing out of the obli- 
gation imposed upon him by the Constitution to take care that 
the laws be faithfully executed. This is a doctrine that cannot 
receive the sanction of this court. It would be vesting in the 
President a dispensing power which has no countenance for its 
support in any part of the Constitution, and is asserting a 
principle which, if carried out in its results to all cases falling 
within it, would be clothing the President with a power entirely 
to control the legislation of Congress and paralyze the adminis- 
tration of justice." 

After the reading of the opinion, Mr. Butler, Attorney-Gen- 
eral, rose and said that in that opinion it had been stated that 
the obligation imposed on the President to see the laws faith- 
fully executed implied a power to forbid their execution. He 
disclaimed such a doctrine, and felt it to be a duty he owed to 
himself and the station he occupied to repudiate such a doc- 
trine as ,ontrary to his long-established opinions; and he hoped 
the court would either expunge this part of the opinion or so 
modify it as to exonerate him from the imputation of having 
asserted such a principle. 

Mr. Justice Thompson said he had endeavored to state faith- 
fully and impartially the arguments of counsel, but if he had 
fallen into error he was willing to correct it. The opinion had 
been submitted to all the judges in conference, and no one had 
intimated that the argument had been misapprehended. 

Mr. Justice Baldwin had paid much attention to the argu- 
ment, and said there was no mistake or misapprehension in the 
statement of.it. 

Mr. Justice McKinlcy had also listened Avith much attention, 
and had rlo hesitation in saying that the doctrine attributed to 
counsel was not only enunciated, but it constituted the drift of 
the whole argument. 

Mr. Justice Wayne's understanding of the argument of coun- 
sel was in accordance with that stated in the opinion, and he 
had heard the doctrine enunciated with equal astonishment and 
indignation. 

The "National Intelligencer" of October 14, 1854, to which I 
am indebted for the statement of this case, says that the opinion 



THE BANK OF THE UNITED STATES. -, , •> 

was modified in conformity with Mr. Butler's request; but the 
original opinion, as read, will be found in the handwriting of 
Mr. Justice Thompson, among the archives of the Supreme 
Court, and still shows how it stood before the alteration. 

" Thus," says the editor, " in the tribunal of the highest 
resort under the Constitution, were the prerogative claims and 
arbitrary constructions of his own power by President Jackson 
stamped with the seal of condemnation, decisively, irreversibly, 
now and forever." 

THE BANK OF THE UNITED STATES. — APPLICATION FOR A RE- 
CHARTER, ETC. 

/ In his first annual message to Congress, in December, 1829, 
President Jackson informed that body that " the charter of the 
Bank of the United States expires in 1836, and its stockholders 
will probably apply for a renewal of their privileges. In order 
to avoid the evils resulting from precipitancy in a measure 
involving such important principles and such deep pecuniary 
interests, I feel that I cannot, in justice to the parties interested, 
too soon present it to the deliberate consideration of the legis- 
lature and the people. ... It must be admitted by all that it 
has failed in the great end of establishing a uniform and sound 
currency." The President also called attention to the subject 
in several subsequent messages. Three years after this the 
bank directors applied for a renewal of the charter, when a hue 
and cry was set up that the application was prcvidtnre. 

Mr. Dallas, in presenting the memorial, said he had been 
requested to present the vienwrial, but intimated very strongly 
that it would have been better to delay the application. 

In a conversation I had with Mr. Biddlc, president of the 
bank, in regard to Mr. Dallas's remark, he stated that it had 
not been the intention of the directors to intrust Mr. Dallas 
with the memorial, nor, of course, with the management of 
the interests of the bank in Congress, but to put them into 
other hands, — Mr. Webster's, I think; that, hearing of this, 
Mr. Dallas addressed him a letter remonstrating against it, as 
it would be virtually saying to the world that his ability or his 
disposition to aid in obtaining a re-chartcr was doubted ; that, 



214 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



being himself a citizen of Philadelphia, where the bank was 
located, he should feel greatly hurt to be thus passed over. 
In consequence of this letter, Mr. Biddle said, Mr. Dallas 
was intrusted with the presentation of the memorial and the 
management of the interest of the bank in the Senate^ 

Instead, therefore, of being " requested'' to present the me- 
morial, he sought the office or duty. 

When the bank directors applied for a renewal of its charter, 
its bills were preferred to specie in every part of the United 
States, Mexico, and South America, — preferred, because they 
were more convenient to carr}% and could be easily transmitted 
to any distance by mail, and commanded specie everywhere. 
The Germans of Pennsylvania hoarded them, as they formerly 
had hoarded silver, and large sums were thus laid up by that 
proverbially cautious, industrious, thriving people. They were 
current in Europe, and in almost every part of the civilized 
world. 

During the existence of the bank, the exchanges between the 
Northern commercial cities. New York, Philadelphia, Boston, 
etc., and the Southern and Western, were from one-quarter to 
one-half per cent.; seldom, in any case, exceeding three-fourths 
per cent. Drafts of the bank on its branches in these cities, or 
of its branches on it or on each other, could at all times be 
obtained at these rates ; so that the transmission of funds back 
and forth was a matter of little difficulty and of comparatively 
small expense. 

I The memorial of the bank directors was presented in the 
Senate by Mr. Dallas, and in the House by Mr. McDuffie. In 
the Senate it was referred to a select committee, in the House 
to the committee of ways and means. The application for a 
rc-charter at once met with very determined opposition, and 
the bank was fiercely assailed, — in the Senate by Colonel Ben- 
ton, and in the House by many leading Southern and Eastern 
men. It found able defenders and advocates in Mr. McDufifie 
and Colonel Drayton, of South Carolina, Mr. Wilde, of Georgia, 
and others. 

After some days' warm discussion, it was ordered that a 
special committee be appointed to whom the subject should be 



THE NEW HAMPSHIRE INTRIGUE. 215 

referred, and who should proceed to Philadelphia and make a 
thorough investigation of the affairs of the institution. The 
committee consisted of Messrs. Clayton, of Georgia, R. M. 
Johnson, of Kentucky, F. Thomas, of Maryland, C. C. Cam- 
brcling, of New York, McDuffie, of South Carolina, Adams, 
of Massachusetts, and Watmough, of Pennsylvania: the four 
first named opposed to the bank, the three last in favor of it. . 
The committee visited Philadelphia, and made a thorough 
examination of the affairs of the bank, and three reports : a 
majority report, being a long indictment against the institution; 
a minority report, favorable to it ; and a report by Mr. Adams 
alone. These changed not a vote or an opinion: those opposed 
to the bank opposed it still, and those who advocated its re- 
charter continued to do so with none the less zeal. 

MR. ADAMS'S REPORT. THE NEW HAMPSHIRE INTRIGUE EXPOSED, 

Like all other papers or documents upon important subjects 
emanating from Mr. Adams's pen, his report on the bank was 
a most elaborate and exhaustive production. He brought for- 
ward the fact, before unknown, that the controversy between 
the bank and the friends of the administration began in 1829, 
almost immediately after General Jackson's inauguration, by an 
attempt on the part of Mr. Woodberry, Isaac Hill, and other 
well-known politicians of New Hampshire, to compel the bank 
to remove Jeremiah Mason from the presidency of its branch 
at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, because, "as a politician, he 
was not very acceptable to the majority in Portsmouth and the 
State ;" that is, he was not a Jackson man. 

Mr. Woodberry, then Senator of the United States from 
New Hampshire, addressed a letter to the Secretary of the 
Treasury, complaining that " The new president, Jeremiah 
Mason, is a particular friend of Mr. Webster; and his political 
character is doubtless well known to you. Mr. Webster is 
supposed to have had much agency in effecting the change. . . . 
The objections to the continuance of Mr. Mason in office are 
twofold: first, the want of conciliatory manners and intimate 
acquaintance with our business men; and, secondly, the fluctu- 
ating policy pursued in relation to both loans and collections at 




2i6 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

the bank, together with the partiahty and harshness that accom- 
pany them." Mr. Woodberry also states that the salary had 
been greatly increased upon the change of president of that 
branch. 

This letter was transmitted by the Secretary of the Treasury 
to Mr. Biddle, president of the bank at Philadelphia, who replied, 
— first, that the president of the branch bank was not changed ; 
that Mr. Shapley, the late president, declined serving any longer, 
and Mr. Mason was appointed to fill his place. Second, that the 
salary of the new president was not increased a dollar. Third, 
that Mr. Webster had not the slightest agency in obtaining for 
Mr. Mason the appointment ; the nomination was made with- 
out the knowledge of Mr. Webster or Mr. Mason. Mr. Webster, 
however, was requested to endeavor to prevail on him to serve. 

Mr. Biddle states also in his letter to the Secretary that on the 
day Mr. Woodberry wrote to him, the Secretary, he addressed 
a letter to himself, and in reply he requested Mr. Woodbury to 
state the objections to Mr. Mason. In his answer, Mr. Wood- 
berry said, " From the confidential character of this letter, it is 
due in perfect frankness to state that the president of the present 
board, as a politician, is not very acceptable to the majority in 
this town and State. But it is at the same time notorious that 
the charges against him, in his present office, originated exclu- 
sively with his political friends." On this Mr. Biddle remarks, 
"It appears, then, from Mr. Woodb^-ry's own statement, that so 
far from employing the influence of the bank ivitli a vieiv to 
political effect, it is a notorious fact that the complaints are made 
by Mr. Mason's own political friends: so that, in truth, if there 
be any politics in the matter, it is a question between Mr. Ma- 
son and politicians of his own persuasion ; that is to say (for, 
after all, I suspect it will result in this), that Mr. Mason has had 
the courage to do his duty whether he offends his political 
friends or not. He may have done his duty too rigidly; that is 
a fit subject of examination, and shall be examined; but Mr. 
Woodberry's own declaration to me seems to be irreconcilable 
with his letter to you." 

Mr. Biddle adds, " It is the settled policy of the institution, 
pursued with the most fastidious care, to devote itself exclu- 



THE NEW HAMPSHIRE INTRIGUE. 217 

sively to the purposes for which it was instituted ; to abstain 
from all political contests ; to be simply and absolutely a bank, 
seeking only the interests of the community and the judicious 
employment of the funds intrusted to its management, and 
never for a moment perverting its power to any local or party 
purposes. The affairs of the bank and all its branches are 
thoroughly imbued with this sj^irit, knowing, as they do, that 
their interference in political contentions would be highly 
offensive to the general administration of the institution." 
There is much more of a like import in this letter, but what I 
have given will suffice. It must be remembered that this letter 
was written six months before General Jackson's first annual 
message was delivered; before it was known what were his 
views, if he had any then, in regard to the bank; and before it 
could have been surmised that a conflict was to follow. 

Among other letters brought to light by Mr. Adams, relating 
to, and constituting a part of, this New Hampshire attempt to 
turn the bank into a political engine for the benefit of the oper- 
ators, was a letter from Isaac Hill, then Second Comptroller of 
the Treasury, addressed to two well-known Jackson men in 
Philadelphia, inclosing a petition, " subscribed," he says, " by 
about sixty of the most respectable members of the New Hamp- 
shire Legislature, naming suitable persons for directors at Ports- 
mouth." Pie says, " The friends of General Jackson in New 
Hampshire have had but too much reason to complain of the 
management of the branch at Portsmouth." 

These letters Mr. Adams declared were more deserving the 
attention of Congress and of the nation than any other of the 
papers commented upon in the report of the majority of the 
committee. 

That a control, iox party purposes, was attempted to be exer- 
cised over the operations of the Bank of the United States by 
certain prominent members of the Jackson party, who were 
known to exercise much influence at Washington, and even 
at the Executive ma^ision, no one can doubt. Had they suc- 
ceeded in obtaining the control sought for, and in making a 
political engine of the bank, favorable to the administration, does 
any one suppose that its re-charter would have been resisted by 



2i8 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

what Avas subsequently known as " the kitchen cabinet," or that 
we should ever have heard of " the Bank Veto Message" ? 

In that case the institution would have been an instrument 
of monstrous political power in their hands. Fortunately, the 
bank was in the hands of a president and directors possessing 
firmness and honesty enough to resist all attempts to warp it 
into the current of corrupting influence or make it subservient 
to the views and interests of unscrupulous politicians. Baffled 
as they were in their purpose, it was quite natural they should 
seek to destroy that which they could not control. Hence the 
various intimations, by the President in his messages, of his 
hostility to the institution. 

Mr. Adams declared that the bank had been conducted with 
as near an approach to perfect wisdom as the imperfection of 
human nature permitted. 

The majority report was the production of Mr. Clayton, of 
Georgia, the chairman of the committee. It was very long, and 
glaringly exhibited his utter ignorance of the science and true 
principles of banking, and exposed him to the keen shafts of 
grave ridicule, which Mr. Adams did not hesitate to use, to the 
great amusement of the House. Mr. Adams said there was not 
a paragraph in it in which he could concur, and that one mem- 
ber of the committee. Colonel R. M. Johnson, had signed it out 
of good nature, without knowing anything that it contained, 
merely to enable the chairman to make a majority report. One 
member of the committee (Mr. Clayton), Mr. Adams said, had 
addressed one hundred and sixty-one questions to the president 
of the bank never submitted to the committee, and even drawn 
up after the committee had closed their examinations at Phila- 
delphia, and after he, Mr. Adams, had returned to his post here 
in the House. He had found many of them, upon perusal, pass- 
ing his powers of comprehension, and the skeleton of a profound 
dissertation upon coins, currency, paper, credit, circulation, and 
banking. He could not withhold his admiration from the com- 
prehensive views and profound knowledges of the subject dis- 
covered in those inquiries, and he believed that satisfactory 
answers to them might form a very useful, sound, though 
somewhat larger volume than the Legislative and Documentary 



VETO OF THE BANK BILL. 219 

History of the Bank of the United States compiled by the inde- 
fatigable research and industry of the Clerk of the House of 
Representatives and his associate. [The volume referred to is a 
large folio of six or seven hundred pages.] But a large portion 
of the questions might with more propriety be addressed in a 
circular to the presidents of all the banks in the four quarters of 
the globe than to the president of the Bank of the United States, 
and it may be doubted, of many of the inquiries, whether a con- 
vention of all the bankers in the world would not be reduced to 
the necessity of leaving them as they found them, to be solved 
only by the ingenuity or sagacity of their author. 

Colonel Benton has been candid enough to inform us what 
was the character of the warfare waged by the Jackson men 
against the United States Bank. "Seeing," he says, in his 
"Thirty Years' View," "that there was a majority in each House 
for the institution, and not intending to lose time in arguing for 
it, our course of action became obvious, which was to attack 
incessantly, assail at all points, display the evil of the institu- 
tion, rouse the people, and prepare them to sustain the veto. . . . 
We determined to have a contest in both Houses, and to force 
the bank into defenses which tvonld engage it in a general combat 
and lay it open to side-blozos as ivell as direct attacks." 



I Af 



THE VETO OF THE B.^NK BILL. 



After a long and heated discussion, the bill to re-charter the 
bank passed in the Senate by a vote of 28 ayes to 20 noes ; in 
the House by 106 ayes to 84 noes^ 

The President, however, sent a message to the Senate vetoing it. 

It is impossible to exaggerate the excitement which this pro- 
duced in every part of the country. Those who favored the 
veto went wild with exultation. Meetings were everywhere 
held ; crowds of excited people attended, were addressed by 
sober-minded and by impassioned speakers ; and the meetings 
gave vent to their feelings in resolutions and anathemas. Meet- 
ings of " original Jackson men" were called in almost every city 
and important town to denounce the President and openly de- 
clare their secession from the Jackson party. 

Many leading papers in different parts of the country which 



220 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

had supported Jackson from the beginning wheeled around, de- 
nouncing him as false to all his former professions and avowed 
principles, and accusing him of being under the control of a 
" kitchen cabinet." The " Courier and Enquirer," of New York, 
and the " Inquirer," of Philadelphia, were among the most 
prominent of these journals. The former, especially, at once 
opened a tremendous fire upon the President, creating great ex- 
citement in New York, and bringing down the ire of Tammany 
upon the head of the fearless editor. Colonel J. Watson Webb. 

In the Senate, Mr. J. M. Clayton, Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster, and 
other Senators assailed the veto message with great power and 
vehemence, while it was as earnestly sustained by Colonel Ben- 
ton and by Mr. White, of Tennessee, — the latter a man of 
sterling worth, ability, and purity of character, esteemed alike 
by those who concurred and those who differed with him in 
public affairs. 

The message was drawn up with great political skill and tact. 
As Colonel Benton once coarsely said of a resolution offered to 
the Senate, " it contained a stump-speech in its belly." It was 
adroitly calculated to confound the foolish, if it could not con- 
vince the wise. It cunningly placed the President in the atti- 
tude of an honest, patriotic Hercules contending single-handed 
with " a monster" dangerous to the people, for whose sake he 
was resolved to destroy it at every hazard ; and this idea 
took wonderfully with the ignorant, simple-minded, who knew 
no guile and dreamed of none in others. The bank was 
denounced as " a great monopoly," " a gigantic moneyed in- 
stitution," dangerous to the liberties of the people; it was 
" aristocj'atic" and therefore the enemy of the democracy. 

The President said, " It is maintained by the advocates of 
the bank that its constitutionality in all its features ought to 
be considered as settled by precedent and by the decision of 
the Supreme Court. To this conclusion I cannot come." 

After speaking of the precedents, namely, of the establish- 
ment of the bank in 1791, the failure of Congress to re-charter 
it in 181 1, and the chartering of the present bank by Congress 
in 1 8 16, he says, — 

" If the opinion of the Supreme Court covered the whole 



VETO OF THE BANK BILL. 221 

ground of this act, it ought not to control the co-ordinate 
authorities of this government. The Congress, the Executive, 
and the Court must, cacJifor itself, he g2iided by its o%v7i opi7iion 
of the Constitution. Each pubHc officer who takes an oath to 
support the Constitution swears that he will support it as he 
understands it, and not as it is understood by others. . . . The 
opinion of the judges has no more authority over Congress 
than the opinion of Congress has over the judges; and on that 
point the President is independe^it of bothy 

This is the same monstrous assertion that was made by the 
President in the Cherokee case. 

Scarcely less extraordinary than the passages I have quoted 
is the following : 

" Had the Executive been called upon to furnish the project 
of such an institution, the duty would have been cheerfully per- 
formed." Notwithstanding he had again and again declared 
that such an institution was ujiconstitutiotial ! 

I have had occasion to speak of the fact that the President 
had, in his first annual message, December, 1829, called the 
attention of Congress to the circumstance that the charter of 
the bank would expire in 1836; that it was proper to bear the 
fact in mind ; and that he again reminded Congress in a subse- 
quent annual message, intending, doubtless, that the subject 
should not be lost sight of; yet 7toiu he makes it an objection 
to the bank that its directors did not wait till the charter had 
expired before applying for a renewal of it. He says, — 

" As the charter had yet four years to run, and as a renewal 
now was not necessary to the successful prosecution of its 
business, it was to have been expected that the bank itself, 
conscious of its purity and proud of its character, would have 
withdrawn its application for the present, and demanded the 
severest scrutiny into all its transactions," 

Mr. Clay addressed the Senate on the veto message, and in 
the course of his remarks he said, "The friends of the Presi- 
dent, who have been for near three years agitating this [bank] 
question, now turn around upon their opponents who have 
supposed the President quite serious and in earnest in present- 
ing it for public consideration, and charge them with prema- 




222 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

turely agitating it, and that for electioneering purposes. The 
other side understands perfectly the policy of preferring an 
unjust charge in order to avoid a well-founded accusation." 

He then noticed and commented on the various points of 
the message in his usual bold, vigorous, and eloquent style, 
and especially the extraordinary assumption that all who take 
an oath to support the Constitution swear to support it " as 
they understand it." He closed by saying, — 

" We are about to close one of the longest and most arduous 
sessions of Congress under the present Constitution; and when 
we return among our constituents, what account of the opera- 
tions of their government shall we be bound to communicate? 
We shall be compelled to say that the Supreme Court is 
paralyzed, and the missionaries retained in prison in contempt 
of its authority and defiance of numerous treaties and laws of 
the United States ; that the Executive, through the Secretary 
of the Treasury, sent to Congress a tariff bill which would 
have destroyed numerous branches of our domestic industry 
and led to the final destruction of all; that the veto has been 
applied to the Bank of the United States, our only reliance for 
a sound, uniform currency; that the Senate has been violently 
attacked for the exercise of a clear constitutional power ; that 
the House of Representatives has been unnecessarily assailed; 
and that the President has promulgated a rule of action for 
those who have taken the oath to support the Constitution of 
the United States that must, if there be practical conformity 
to it, introduce gradual nullification, and end in the absolute 
subversion of the government." 

Mr. Webster closed a very able speech, delivered with earnest 
solemnity, in the following language : 

" As far as its power extends, cither in its direct effects, or as 
a precedent, the message not only unsettles everything which 
has been settled under the Constitution, but would show, also, 
that the Constitution itself is utterly incapable of any fixed con- 
struction or definite interpretation ; and that thei'e is no possi- 
bility of establishing by its authority any practical limitations 
on the powers of the respective branches of the government. 

" When the message denies, as it does, the authority of the 



VETO OF THE BANK BILL. 223 

Supreme Court to decide on constitutional questions, it effects, 
so far as the opinion of the President and his authority can 
effect, a complete change in our government. It does two 
things : first, it converts constitutional limitations of power 
into mere matters of opinion, and then it strikes the Judicial 
Department, as an efficient department, out of our system. 

" Mr. President, we have arrived at a new epoch. We are 
entering on experiments with the government and the Consti- 
tution of the country hitherto untried, and of fearful and appall- 
ing aspect. This -message calls us to the contemplation of a 
future which little resembles the past. Its principles are at war 
wath all that public opinion has sustained, and all which the 
experience of the government has sanctioned. It denies first 
principles ; it contradicts truths heretofore received as indis- 
putable. It denies to the Judiciary the interpretation of law, 
and demands to divide with Congress the origination of stat- 
utes. It extends the grasp of Executive pretension over every 
power of the government. But this is not all. It presents 
the chief magistrate of the Union in the attitude of arguing 
azvay the powers of that government over which he has been , 
chosen to preside, and adopting, for this purpose, modes of 
reasoning which, even under the influence of all proper feel- 
ing towards high official station, it is difficult to regard as 
respectable. It appeals to every prejudice which may betray 
men into a mistaken view of their own interests, and to every 
passion which may lead them to disobey the impulses of their 
understanding. It urges all the specious topics of State rights, 
and national encroachment, against that which a great majority 
of the States have affirmed to be rightful, and in which all of 
them have acquiesced. It sows, in an unsparing manner, the 
seeds of jealousy and ill will against that government of which 
its author is the official head. It raises a cry that Liberty is 
in danger, at the very moment when it puts forth claims to 
powers heretofore unknown and unheard of It affects alarm 
for the public freedom, when nothing so much endangers that 
freedom as its own unparalleled pretenses. This, even, is not 
all. It manifestly seeks to influence the poor against the rich ; 



224 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



it Avantonly attacks whole classes of the people for the purpose 
of turning against them the prejudices and the resentments of 
other classes. It is a state paper which finds no topic too ex- 
citing for its use, no passion too inflammable for its address 
and its solicitation. Such is this message." 

AN EXCITING SCENE IN THE SENATE. 

In the course of this debate, which was characterized by- 
great heat on both sides, a scene occurred between Mr. Clay 
and Colonel Benton which had, for a time, an intense interest. 
Mr. Benton, having the floor, in reply to Mr. Clay's speech, 
charged him with the use of language discourteous and dis- 
respectful to the chief magistrate. 

Mr. Clay rose, and, after some explanations touching his 
remarks about a tariff bill being sent to Congress by the 
Executive, by his officer the Secretary of the Treasury, he 
said, " The Senator from Missouri has adverted to the fact of 
crowded galleries. But if, impelled by curiosity, the galleries 
are sometimes filled when some Senators are to speak, no 
member knows better than the honorable gentleman that, when 
some others rise, the galleries are quickly emptied," 

Mr. Clay observed that he had been accused of want of 
courtesy and decorum towards the chief magistrate in his re- 
marks ujDon his veto message. He had felt it his duty to dis- 
cuss that message, examine and weigh all the arguments and 
extraordinary propositions it contained, and in doing so he 
appealed to the Senate if he had not treated the President and 
his message with all the respect consistent with the occasion 
and with the high responsibility under which every member of 
the body was bound to act. 

In some past transactions, well known to the public,* he (Mr, 
Clay) had been furnished with just cause for resentment; but 
the present was not the occasion, nor the Senate the place, for 
indulging such feelings : they had high duties to perform here, 
which should be performed under a deep sense of the obli- 
gations they owed to the country. 

* Mr. Clay alluded to General Jackson's charge against him and Mr. Adams of 
bargain and corruption. 



AN EXCITING SCENE IN THE SENATE. 225 



(I 



But, Mr. President," said Mr. Clay, "I cannot allow the 
Senator from Missouri to instruct me in etiquette and courtesy 
and how I shall deport myself towards an exalted personage." 
Mr. Clay made allusions to several incidents in Mr. Benton's 
life of a not very exalted character, which would not now be 
understood, but which were barbed darts that irritated and 
stung. He then proceeded : " I never had any personal ren- 
contre with the President ; I never promulgated a bulletin on 
any such rencontre; I never complained of the President beating 
a brother of mine after he was prostrated and lying apparently 
lifeless.* Nor did I ever make a prophecy of events which 
would ensue from the elevation of the President, as the public 
press ascribes to the Senator from Missouri." 

Colonel Benton replied that it was true he and General 
Jackson had a personal conflict ; they had fought, and, he 
hoped, like men ; and with the cessation of their conflict ceased 
their enmity. [But not until it was evident that Missouri would 
support Jackson.] There was no adjourned question of vera- 
city between them. [Alluding to a former controversy between 
Mr. Clay and Mr. Adams in regard to the fisheries and the 
negotiations at Ghent.] As regards the propliccy, he pronounced 
it a7i atrocious calumny, and he was now no longer in doubt as 

* The allusions here were to a very desperate fight — one long remembered on ac- 
count of the parties engaged, and its savage ferocity — which took place at a hotel 
in Nashville, between General Jackson and his friend Colonel Coffee, on the one 
side, and the two Bentons, Thomas H. and his brother Jesse, on the other ; all 
being armed with pistols and other weapons commonly used in desperate personal 
conflicts. In this fight Jackson was wounded in the arm by Colonel Benton, fell 
and feigned to be dead, to avoid being killed. Jesse Benton was also wounded, 
and while lying apparently lifeless, according to the statement of Colonel Benton 
next day, was savagely beaten. The only wonder was that, considering the fero- 
city and murderous intent of the parties, and the weapons they used, no one was 
killed. General Jackson carried Colonel Benton's ball in his arm until after his 
second election as President, when it was extracted by Dr. Jackson, of Philadelphia. 

Colonel Benton and General Jackson became friends ; but Jesse Benton was the 
enemy of Jackson to the last, and never forgave his brother for becoming a Jackson 
man. 

The day after the fight, Colonel Benton issued a ferocious bulletin giving an 
account of it, denouncing Jackson and Coftee as murderous assassins, etc. 

Soon after this famous fight, Colonel Benton left Tennessee and settled at St. 
Louis, Missouri. 

15 



226 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

to who had indorsed it, at least in the Senate, and had thus 
become responsible for it. 

Mr. Clay, referring to Mr. Benton's denial of the statement 
that he had made a prophecy as to what would happen in case 
General Jackson should be elected,* pausing a moment, and 
looking Mr. Benton in the eye, asked, " Can the Senator from 
Missouri look me in the face and assert that he never used 
language similar to that imputed to him ?" 

Mr. Benton, looking and pointing at Mr. Clay, said " he 
could, he could." 

Mr. Clay. — " I again ask, Can that man presume to look me 
in the face and deny it ?" 

Mr. Benton repeated his answer, in a loud, defiant tone. 

Mr. Clay, looking at him with astonishment, resumed his seat. 

Mr. Benton then said he had already pronounced the charge 
an atrocious calumny; he now pointed out the author, in the 
Senator; he would pin it to his sleeve, and there it would stick, — 

stick, STICK. 

Mr. Clay rose in an excited manner, and said he returned the 
charge of calumny to the Senator from Missouri. 

The Chair (Mr. Tazewell) said the debate could not longer be 
suffered, — the Senator from Kentucky must take his seat. 

Mr. Clay. — "I wish to explain." 

The Chair. — " No further explanation will be heard from the 
gentleman from Kentucky." 

Mr. Clay, in an imperial manner, such as no man but himself, 
and he only when greatly excited, could assume, — in a com- 
manding tone of voice, with erect position and flashing eye, — 
said, "I tell the President I must be heard, and I demand to 
know the point of order." 

The Chair. — "The Senator was out of order in the language 
used to the Senator from Missouri." 

^ Mr. Clay. — "Then I make another point of order. Was not 
the language of the Senator from Missouri out of order?" 

The Chair. — "The present occupant of the chair was not in it 
when the debate began." 

* It was that if General Jackson should be elected President, members of Con- 
gress would have to legislate with pistols by their side. 



EFFECT OF THE VETO ON PARTIES. 227 

Mr. Poindexter, who had been in the chair, rose to explain, 
when Mr. Benton rose and said an apology was due from him, 
and he made it to the Senate, but not to the Senator from 
Kentucky. 

Mr. Clay. — "To the same tribunal I also offer an apology, 
but none to the Senator from Missouri." 

Here the scene ended. During its continuance, the galleries 
as well as grave Senators were intensely moved. 

The vote was then taken on the question whether the bill 
(bank) should pass, the President's • reasons to the contrary 
notwithstanding ; and, a majority, but not two-thirds, of the 
Senate voting for it, it was lost. And thus ended the Bank 
of the United States, so far as legislation was concerned. 

THE EFFECT OF THE VETO ON PARTIES. 

In the Northern and Eastern States especially, the question 
of re-chartering the bank had been thoroughly discussed by the 
people, and its re-charter was earnestly desired and advocated 
by almost the entire portion of the business men. In Penn- 
sylvania, it was claimed to be a Pennsylvania measure — a great 
Pennsylvania interest — by all parties, and the only contest about 
it was which party were the most earnest friends of the institu- 
tion. The Jackson papers charged the National Republicans 
with foully slandering the President in accusing him of hos- 
tility to the bank and predicting that he would veto the bill 
to re-charter it. They declared that General Jackson had great 
regard for Pennsylvania interests, and would never do an act so 
injurious to those interests as would be the vetoing of that bill. 

While the bill was undergoing discussion in the Senate, the 
United States Circuit Court held a session at Williamsport, on 
the West Branch of the Susquehanna. It was the practice of 
the Jackson marshal to summon as jurors to this court the 
leading politicians of his own party in different parts of the 
State, thus getting together at the cost of the government a 
political State convention, which lent its aid in perfecting the 
plans of the party to carry the election in the fall. 

As a Presidential election was to take place this year, the 
marshal had been careful to gather together, as jurors, many 



228 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

of the most sagacious and influential politicians of the Jackson 
school, who held a meeting and passed a series of resolutions, 
among which were two or three of the character I have men- 
tioned, that it was a slander upon General Jackson to say that 
he would veto the bank bill if passed, and claiming him as the 
friend of Pennsylvania interests. Having done this, and spread 
their doings over the whole State, they adjourned, as the court 
did also, and sought their several homes, well satisfied with 
their important labors and their pay as jurors. 

But who can tell what a day or an hour may bring forth, or 
what unexpected events may occur ! Before some of these 
hirors — the ardent friends of the bank, the great sticklers for 
Pennsylvania interests, the devoted friends of General Jackson, 
who became indignant at the slanders cast upon him by alleging 
that he would not sign the bill — reached their homes, the veto 
message stared them in the face ! Of course they felt indig- 
nant, and abandoned "the old hero;" of course they stood by 
what they had said of the bank, its usefulness, importance, etc. 
They could not turn back upon themselves, unsay all they had 
said, and present themselves to the world as a poor, craven, 
subservient, party-ridden set, deserving only the scorn and con- 
tempt of all honorable, independent men ! 

Ay, but they did ; — all but three or four of them, who had 
manliness and independence and pride enough to stand by what 
they had said. Of these honorable exceptions, I remember 

William Frick, of Munson, and Bull, of Towanda. All the 

others became at once the most rancorous enemies of the bank, 
professing to have been convinced by the veto message that 
the bank was a dangerous institution, and the president and 
directors a corrupt set of men ! 

An anti-bank meeting was called in Philadelphia, in which 
appeared Henry Horn, member of Congress from the first dis- 
trict of Pennsylvania, who was made chairman of the meeting, 
although lie had voted for the bank bill. Having done so, he 
now apologized for his vote, saying that he voted, as he sup- 
posed, in accordance with the general feeling in his State ; 
thereby admitting that he had no opinion of his own, but only 
followed what he thought was the majority. 



NULLIFICATION. 220 

It is no easy task to give the people of the present day the 
faintest idea of the condition of the currency of the country at 
the time of the estabhshment of the United States Banl^, and 
shortly after. There was no specie to be seen ; bank-notes and 
" shinplasters," as the small notes were called, constituted the 
currency; and the " shinplasters" were issued by States, manu 
facturing companies, merchants, individuals having the reputa- 
tion of being "well off," and turnpike companies. 

Mr. Ingham, in the letter from which I have quoted, said, 
" The Bank has purified one of the worst currencies that ever 
infested any country or people. It consisted of mere paper, of 
no definite value, accompanied by worthless tickets, issued from 
broken banks, petty corporations, and partnerships", in almost 
every village. Instead of this, the United States Bank has 
given us the best currency known among nations. It supplies 
a medium equal in value to gold and silver in every part of 
the Union. . . . Yet General Jackson would destroy this in- 
stitution, and expose the country to all the evils from which it 
has so happily but just recovered !" 

SOUTH CAROLINA. NULLIFICATION. THE PRESIDENT'S PROCLA- 
MATION, ETC. 

The tariff act of 1832, while it considerably reduced the 
revenue and the rate of duties on many imported articles, 
retained the principle oi protection, 2Xi^ was therefore obnoxious 
to the free-traders of the South, those of South Carolina espe- 
cially, who kept up their clamor and war preparations, or 
preparations for resisting the collection of custom duties in 
that State by the United States. 

The Legislature was convened by the governor, and passed 
an act providing for holding a State convention, which was 
held on the third Monday of November. The convention 
adopted an "ordinance," 24th of November, 1832, declaring 
the tariff act null and void, and declaring it also unlawful for 
the State officers or the United States officers to enforce the 
collection of duties in that State. The courts were prohibited 
from allowing appeals to be taken to the Supreme Court of the 
United States, and clerks of the courts from furnishing papers 



230 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

for such appeals. All public officers were required to take an 
oath to obey the ordinance and all laws passed in accordance 
therewith. 

" If the government of the United States shall attempt to en- 
force the tariff laws, by means of its army or navy, by closing 
the ports of the State, or preventing the ingress or egress of 
vessels, or in any way obstruct the foreign commerce of the 
State, South Carolina will no longer consider herself a member 
of the Federal Union, and will thenceforth hold herself ab- 
solved from all further obligation to maintain or preserve 
her political connection with the people of the other States, 
and will forthwith organize a separate government, and do all 
other acts and things which a sovereign and independent State 
may of right do." 

The ordinance was to take effect on the first day of February, 

1833. 
This was followed by a bellicose proclamation by Governor 

Hayne, warning the people of South Carolina against all 

attempts to seduce them from their " priinajy allegiance to the 

State," and earnestly exhorting them to disregard the vain 

menaces of military force which the President had put forth. 

This proclamation was issued on the 31st of December, 1832. 

Upon its reaching Washington, the President sent a special 
message to Congress, asking an increase of executive powers, 
to enable the government, if necessary, to close ports of entry, 
remove custom-houses, and do sundry other acts. 

The Legislature of South Carolina met soon after the con- 
vention adjourned, and passed a series of laws to carry into 
effect the provisions of the ordinance, and providing for the 
new state of affairs, — among other things, the purchase of ten 
thousand stand of arms and the requisite amount of munitions 
of war. 

Such was the attitude of South Carolina towards the govern- 
ment of the United States — an attitude of armed defiance — on 
the 1st of January, 1833. At once the President put forth a 
proclamation,* that stirred the people of the whole country 
like the boom of the first gun at Fort Sumter. South Carolina 

* Written Ijy Edward Livingston, Secretary of State. 



MOVEMENTS AGAINST THE NULLIFIERS. 



231 



bravado had no terrors for him. He met threats by cool firm- 
ness, and an ostentatious display of military preparations by 
prompt and decisive action. 

The proclamation was an extraordinary paper : extraordinary 
in its ability, and extraordinary in the doctrines it promulgated, 
considering the source whence it emanated. It was drawn up 
with great clearness and logical precision. Its exposition of 
the powers of the Federal government was in entire accord 
with the doctrines laid down by Mr. Webster in his celebrated 
speech in reply to Mr. Hayne, delivered in the Senate some 
two years and a half before. Indeed, that speech seemed to be 
the text-book whence the doctrines of the proclamation were 
drawn. It was a bomb which blew " State rights," as asserted 
by South Carolina, Virginia, and other States, into a thousand 
fragments. 

The following extract will show what were the doctrines put 
forth in this celebrated paper: 

..." We are one people. . . . The Constitution of the 
United States forms a government, not a league ; and whether 
it be formed by compact between the States, or in any other 
manner, its character is the same. ... To say that any State 
may at pleasure secede from the Union, is to say that the 
United States are not a nation." 

MOVEMENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT AGAINST THE NULLIFIERS. 

The horizon at this time looked dark and portentous. No 
one could foretell the result of the conflict should it come to a 
clash of arms ; but the thought of a civil war was saddening. 
How it was to be avoided no one could see. 

The President's proclamation was received in South Caro- 
hna with a shout of derision and defiance : had the State been 
a powerful empire, the leading men — the Hayncs, the McDuf- 
fies, the Hamiltons, the Hammonds, the Pickcnses, the Rhetts, 
and others — could not have shown more confidence in their 
own power, or contempt for that of the national government. 

There were prominent men, however, in the State who 
deprecated and opposed the course of the nullifiers, and gave 
public expression to their views. They designated them- 



232 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

selves " Unionists," and were headed by Judge William Smith, 
formerly a Senator in Congress. 

With a view to counteract the purposes of the nullifiers of 
South Carolina, the Secretary of the Treasury addressed a 
letter to the collector at Charleston, placing two revenue 
cutters under his orders, to enable him to levy and collect 
duties on all vessels arriving at that port, and instructing him, 
should it become necessary, to remove the custom-house to 
Castle Pinckney, where his duties could not be interfered with 
by the State authorities. The collector was directed to require 
all vessels arriving at that port to be boarded and examined 
by a revenue cutter. 

Meantime, the Secretary of War ordered troops to Charleston, 
with guns and munitions for Castle Pinckney. General Scott 
was sent to Charleston to take command, with instructions to 
" take no step, except what relates to the immediate defense 
and security of the posts, without the concurrence" of the 
collector of the port and the district attorney. Should a crisis 
arise, when the ordinary power in the hands of the civil officers 
should not be sufficient for the enforcement of the laws, the 
President would then determine what course should be taken. 

The navy department also dispatched several vessels of war 
to rendezvous at Charleston and make that port their head- 
quarters while cruising up and down the coast. The nullifiers 
were thus effectually flanked. 

Colonel Hayne having resigned his seat in the Senate and 
accepted the office of governor, Mr. Calhoun was elected to 
fill the vacancy. He was present when the President's special 
message to Congress, asking for additional powers, was read, 
and replied to it with earnestness, vindicating himself as one 
conscious that he was considered the prime mover of the nulli- 
fication programme and the great criminal of these treasonable 
proceedings. 

A bill was immediately introduced, giving the President the 

additional powers asked for, which, after much sharp and 

spirited debate, became a law, and was known as the " Force 

Bill" and " Bloody Bill." It had the support of Mr. Clay, Mr. 

\ Webster, and the Whigs generally, except those of the South. 



VEKPLANCK'S BILL. 233 

Mr, Calhoun and his friends opposed it with unusual vehe- 
mence. Circumstances about to occur prevented the necessity 
of using the extraordinary power conferred by it upon the 
government. 

The proclamation of Governor Hayne had fixed the first day 
of February as the date when the nullifying ordinance was to 
take effect. The day came, and passed ; yet the President 
heard of no act being done under that ordinance by South 
Carolina to which exception could be taken. It was known 
that he stood ready, firmly resolved that upon the receipt of 
intelligence that armed opposition had been made to the laws 
or lawful authority of the United States, he would seize Mr. 
Calhoun, and perhaps other South Carolinians, on the charge 
of high treason. 

But there occurred no overt act of treason. Perhaps the 
nuUifiers deemed discretion the better part of valor. At any 
rate, a meeting of some of the leading men of South Carolina 
was held at Charleston, where it was concluded and resolved 
that they would for the present postpone the nullification of 
the revenue laws until it could be seen what Congress should 
do in regard to certain bills then before that body to reduce the 
duties on imports. 

verplanck's bill. 

In accordance with the President's message recommending 
a reduction of the tariff, a bill was prepared by the Secretary 
of the Treasury, and presented to the House by Mr. Verplanck, 
which became known as Verplanck's bill. This bill struck a 
death-blow at protection, throwing the system back, as Mr. 
Clay said, to its starting-point, 18 16. It caused a protracted 
debate in the House. " The immediate friends of the adminis- 
tration," says Colonel Benton, "seemed to be the only ones 
hearty in support of the bill ; but they were no match in 
numbers for those who acted in concert against it, — spinning 
out the time in sterile and vagrant debate." 

Viewing the alarming state of the country at that time with 
the eye of a statesman and the anxious concern of a patriot, — 
seeing South Carolina arraying herself in a defiant attitude 



234 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



against the Federal government, and the President fully re- 
solved to crush nullification by military force should the nul- 
lifiers dare to oppose the execution of the revenue laws, as 
they were threatening to do, — seeing Mr. Calhoun and other 
South Carolinians liable to be arrested and imprisoned on the 
charge of treason, — seeing also the danger his favorite pro- 
tectiv^e system was in of being destroyed by the passage of the 
Verplanck bill, — Mr. Clay set himself the task of preparing a 
measure which, in his own words, " should effect the double 
purpose of saving the protective policy from destruction and 
saving the Union from the horrors of civil war." This " heal- 
ing and tranquillizing measure," as he called it, was the bill 
known as Mr. Clay's Compromise bill, which he asked leave 
of the Senate to introduce on the 12th of February, 1833. 

On asking leave, Mr. Clay addressed the Senate explanatory 
of his motives and the purposes of the bill. His first object, 
he said, looked to the tariff, which, he was compelled to say, 
after the most mature deliberation, stood in imminent danger. 
History could produce no parallel to the extent of the mischief 
which would be produced by the sudden overthrow of the 
various branches of manufacturing which had sprung up under 
the protective system. He believed this system to be in the 
greatest danger, and that it could be placed on a better and 
safer foundation at this session than at the next. 

The bill provided for the moderate annual reduction of duties 
till they should come to twenty per cent, in 1842. 

Mr. Calhoun at once announced his readiness to support the 
bill, and Mr. Forsyth, of Georgia, spoke of it as a project to 
harmonize the people. The object of the bill, he said, would 
meet with universal approbation, and it could come from no 
better source than the Senator from Kentucky. 

The bill struck the manufacturers with alarm, and they 
rushed to the capital to stop it. But they soon found cause to 
change their minds ; at least many of them, who saw that it 
secured them the benefits of protection for nine years. At 
home, they could not perceive the danger the protective system 
was in ; here, they saw the precipice upon which they stood, 
and gladly accepted the only escape that could be found. 



VER PLANCK'S BILL. 



235 



Unfortunately, Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster, usually so har- 
monious in their views of public measures, could not unite on 
this; and the difference arose from the different stand-points 
from which each viewed the conflict with South Carolina, and 
its probable consequences if not arrested. Mr. Clay looked 
upon this threatened conflict with alarm : he knew the temper 
of the President, and felt sure that if blood were once shed the 
consequences would be terrible at best, and no one could see 
what they might not be. General Jackson, it was known, 
would, in case of armed resistance in South Carolina to the 
execution of the revenue laws, immediately arrest Mr. Calhoun 
on the charge of treason, and possibly put his threat of hang- 
ing into execution, 

Mr. Clay also deemed his favorite protective system in immi- 
nent danger of being overthrown. Speaking of this, and of his 
being called the father of this system, he said, " I have, indeed, 
cherished it with parental fondness, and my affection is undi- 
minished. But in what condition do I find this child ? It is 
in the hands of the Philistines, who would strangle it. I would 
save it if possible." 

Mr. Webster did not view the threatening attitude of South 
Carolina with the same apprehension that Mr. Clay did. He 
could not believe that that State would go to the extremity she 
threatened ; and if she did, he believed the power of the gov- 
ernment was sufficient to coerce her into obedience at once. 
Nor could he believe that Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi, and 
perhaps other Southern States, as had been said, would inter- 
pose in her behalf, should it come to force. He opposed the 
bill moderately but firmly. He could not agree with the 
Senator from Kentucky that the tariff was in imminent danger ; 
that if not destroyed this session, it could not hope to survive 
the next. " This may be so, sir. This may be so. But, if it 
be so, it is because the American people will not sanction the 
tariff; and if they will not, why, then, sir, it cannot be sustained 
at all." 

Mr. Webster delivered his opinions of the proposed measure 
in a series of carefully-drawn resolutions. He paid a glowing 
tribute to the purity, zeal, and ability of the Senator from Ken- 



236 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



tucky, for whom he had long entertained the highest respect, 
and to elevate whom to a situation where his talents might be 
still more beneficial to his country he had zealously labored. 
He also complimented the talents and services of the Senator 
from South Carolina (Mr. Calhoun), for whom he had a high 
recrard. He then reviewed his own course in relation to the 
tariff, referring to his former opposition to the protective policy. 
But, that policy having been adopted and become the settled 
policy of the country. New England adapted herself to it, and 
turned all her natural advantages and wealth and industry into 
the new channel thus marked out for her. 

In reply, Mr. Clay paid a high tribute to the patriotism and 
purity of the Senator from Massachusetts, and expressed his 
deep regret that he had now to differ with him. Mr. Webster 
had spoken of the bill having originated in panic. Mr. Clay 
replied that he was as little sensible to fear as any one, and 
therefore the remark could not affect him. But he went on to 
show the causes and circumstances then existing which should 
at least excite apprehension if not alarm, and which he deemed 
it wise to provide against. 

After the Compromise bill had been some days discussed in 
the Senate, Mr. Clay proposed an amendment, which was, that 
from and after the 30th day of June, 1842, the duties required 
to be paid on foreign merchandise shall be assessed upon the 
value thereof at the port where the same shall be entered. This 
was denominated " the home-valuation clause," and met with 
strong opposition from Mr. Webster and Mr. Calhoun. 

In advocating this amendment, Mr. Clay said that his object 
in introducing this bill was conciliation ; to give nine years of 
peace and tranquillity to the country ; and if it was not to be 
considered permanent for that period of time, — if any gentleman 
should say he would vote for it and take it for what it is worth 
now, with the intention of disturbing it next session to get a 
better measure, — it would lose all its value in his eyes, and he 
would vote against it. 

Mr. Calhoun regretted exceedingly that the Senator from 
Kentucky had felt it his duty to move the amendment. Ac- 
cording to his present impressions, the objections to it were 



ANECDOTE OF MR. CALHOUN. 237 

insurmountable ; and unless these were removed, he should be 
compelled to vote against the whole bill, should the amend- 
ment be adopted. 

Mr. J. M. Clayton declared his determination to vote against 
the bill unless the amendment should be adopted. He had been 
anxious to do something for the relief of South Carolina from 
her present perilous situation ; though he had never been driven 
by the taunts of Southern gentlemen to do that which he now 
did for the sake of conciliation. " I vote for this bill," said Mr. 
Clayton, " only on the ground that it may save South Carolina 
herself." 

Mr. Calhoun entreated the Senator to believe that South 
Carolina had no fears for herself 

Mr. Clayton replied, " I will vote for this measure as one of 
conciliation and compromise ; but if the clause of the Senator 
from Kentucky is not inserted, I shall be compelled to vote 
against it. The protective system never can be abandoned; 
and I, for one, will not now, or at any time, admit the idea." 

Much warm discussion followed for two days, when Mr. 
Calhoun, seeing that the passage or defeat of the bill depended 
upon his course, finally yielded, voted for it, and it was passed, 
— 26 to 16. 

ANECDOTE OF MR. CALHOUN AND MR. SIMMONS. 

Some time in 1844, Mr. Simmons, of Rhode Island, while 
addressing the Senate, took occasion to allude to Mr. Cal- 
houn's vote for the Compromise bill. Upon his doing so, 
Mr. Calhoun rose and begged leave to correct the Senator, 
who had stated that he had voted for that bill. " The Senator 
from Rhode Island is mistaken," he said, "as I did not vote for 
that bill." 

Mr. Simmons said he thought he was not mistaken ; his 
recollection was that the Senator from South Carolina did vote 
for that bill. 

Mr. Calhoun. — " No, sir, I did not vote for it, as I considered 
some of its provisions unconstitutional." 

Mr. Simmons proceeded, but after awhile again alluded to 
that vote. 



238 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



Mr. Calhoun again rose, and said he was surprised that the 
Senator from Rhode Island should persist in saying that he 
(Mr. Calhoun) voted for that bill. He did not vote for it; he 
could not have voted for it, as he considered the " home-valua- 
tion clause" unconstitutional. 

Mr. Simmons again said that he was present when the vote 
was taken, and thought he could not be mistaken in his recol- 
lection. 

" Well, then," said Mr. Calhoun, " since the Senator will be 
convinced by nothing short of the journal, I will refer to that." 
Calling for the journal, and turning to the passage recording 
the yeas and nays, he read, — 

" Those who voted in the affirmative were Messrs. Bell^ 
Black, Bibb, Calhoun " Here Mr. Calhoun paused, appar- 
ently confounded. 

Mr. Simmons. — " I hope the Senator from South Carolina is 
satisfied." 

Mr. Calhoun. — " I remember now, I voted for the bill under 
protest." 

Mr. Clay. — "There's no protest on the record." 

Mr. Calhoun. — " No ; as no one has aright to enter a protest 
of record. But I did it under protest, nevertheless." 

I was not present at this scene, but the circumstances were 
rekited to me by Judge Mangum, who then occupied the chair 
as President of the Senate, and said he was much surprised and 
concerned that his friend Mr. Simmons should be so persistent 
in representing that Mr. Calhoun voted for the bill against his 
denial of the fact; presuming that Mr. Calhoun must, of course, 
remember how he voted on so important a measure as that was. 
But when Mr. Calhoun read from the journal his own name in 
the affirmative, his surprise amounted to astonishment, and that 
feeling pervaded the Senate. 

On relating this to Mr. John M. Clayton, some ten years after 
it had occurred, and six or eight years after Judge Mangum 
had related it to me, he said, with a good deal of warmth, "Yes, 
he did vote for the bill, and / made him do it. I wish I had 
been present at the time; I should not only have told him that 
he voted for the bill, but that I compelled him to do so." Mn 



ANECDOTE OF MR. CALHOUN. 23a 

Clayton then related to me the circumstances connected with 
it, as follows: 

He said he considered the bill as one mainly for the relief of 
South Carolina and of Mr. Calhoun himself; that the South 
Carolina Senators were anxious that it should pass, but did not 
want to vote for it; that he was determined they should, or 
that they might fight it out with "Old Hickory" (the President) 
as they could. Accordingly, he got a majority of Senators to 
agree to vote to lay the bill on the table unless the Senators 
from South Carolina would agree to vote for it. Mr. Clay 
came to him and begged him to let them off. His reply was, 
" No, sir, I will not. I know, in your magnanimity, you would 
let them off; but I will not. If they can't vote for a bill that is 
to save their necks from a halter, their necks may stretch. 
They shall vote for it, or // sJiall not pass!' 

Mr. Clayton said that Mr. Miller, Mr. Calhoun's colleague, 
came to him as the vote was about to be taken, and said he 
would vote for the bill, but he wanted Mr. Calhoun should be 
let off "The very man," answered Mr. Clayton, "of all others 
who must vote for it if it passes. And now," said Mr. Clayton, 
taking out his watch, " at the end of fifteen minutes I shall 
move to lay the bill on the table unless within that time you 
inform me authoritatively that Mr. Calhoun will vote for it." 

" He came," said Mr. Clayton, " in about ten minutes, and 
said Mr. Calhoun would vote for it. 'Very good,' I replied; 
'you have saved your necks from a halter.' I was master of 
the situation on that occasion, and not Mr. Calhoun nor Mr. 
Clay." 

Colonel Benton has given a more detailed account of the 
circumstances attending the passage of the Compromise bill, 
and also Mr. Calhoun's brief remarks upon voting for it; but 
there is no variation of facts in his account from Mr. Clayton's 
statement of them to me. He says Mr. Clay's motive was the 
saving of the protective policy and preserving the support of 
the manufacturers; and Mr. Calhoun's, that of saving himself 
from the perils of his situation. 



240 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



HOW THE VERPLANCK BILL WAS KILLED AND THE COMPROMISE 
BILL PASSED IN THE HOUSE. 

Colonel Benton, in his " Thirty Years' View," gives us an 
account of the passage of the Compromise bill in the House. 
Speaking of Verplanck's bill, he says, "The 25th of February 
had arrived, and found the bill still afloat upon the wordy sea 
of stormy debate, when, all of a sudden, it was knocked over, 
run under and submerged, and lost in a new one which ex- 
punged the old one and took its place. It was late in the 
afternoon of that day, and within a week of the end of Con- 
gress, when Mr. Letcher, of Kentucky, the friend of Mr. Clay, 
rose in his place and moved to strike out the whole Verplanck 
bill, except the enacting clause, and insert a bill offered in the 
Senate by Mr. Clay, since called the 'Compromise.' 

"The bill was offered without previous notice just as the 
House was about to adjourn, and while some members were 
putting on their overcoats to walk home. Some were taken by 
surprise, and asked for delay. But this was refused, and the 
bill went through with a speed no less surprising than the time 
and manner of its entrance, — ayes, 119; noes, 85 ; the Southern 
members generally voting for it, as did many Northern men, 
even Mr. Verplanck himself 

" In the Senate the debate had thus far been on the motion 
for leave to introduce the bill. That which had passed the 
House now came to the Senate and took the place of the one 
which Mr. Clay had asked leave to introduce. It was now 
before the Senate, and underwent elaborate debate, with the 
result already mentioned. 

" Undoubtedly the reason why the bill was so promptly 
passed by the House was the threatening attitude of General 
Jackson to Mr. Calhoun. Mr. Letcher had seen the President 
and sounded him on the subject of a compromise; the President 
would have no negotiation, but would execute the laws. Sub- 
sequently, Mr. Josiah S. Johnson, Senator from Louisiana, came 
to Mr. Letcher's room in the night, and informed him that he 
had just learned that General Jackson would admit of no further 
delay, and was determined to take at once a decided course 



A^V EPISODE IN THE SENATE. 24 1 

with Mr. Calhoun (an arrest and trial for treason being under- 
stood). Mr. Johnson urged Mr. Letcher to go to Mr. Calhoun 
immediately and apprise him of his danger. He went, found 
Mr. Calhoun in bed, was admitted, and informed him. He was 
evidently disturbed."* 

AN EPISODE IN THE SENATE. MR. WEBSTER. — MR. POINDEXTER. 

In the course of the debate on the Force bill, which met 
such fierce opposition from the Southern men, Mr. Poindexter, 
of Mississippi, irritated, probably, by Mr. Webster's support of 
that measure, took occasion to allude to the course of the 
latter during the War of 18 12, on which he commented with 
great severity, and compared it with the conduct of Mr. Cal- 
houn. Mr. Webster declined all explanations, and treated the 
unjustifiable attack with dignified indifference. He said, how- 
ever, that the Senator from South Carolina was a member of 
the House with him at the time alluded to, and if that Senator 
desired any explanation of his course at that time, he should 
pay the most cheerful and respectful attention to his request; 
but he did not feel himself called upon to take any notice of 
the remarks of the gentleman from Mississippi. Stung by this 
contemptuous treatment, which was apparent to and attracted 
the attention of the galleries as well as of Senators, Mr. Poin- 
dexter hastily rose, and, in a voice of passion, said, "/ have 
the most perfect contempt for the Senator from Massachusetts^ 

This was one of those unpleasant, painful scenes which some- 
times, but rarely, occur in the Senate, where, formerly at least, 
the members bore themselves towards one another with such 
urbane, refined courtesy, and where self-respect, as well as 
respect for the body, forbade all coarse, vituperative language, 
— scenes greatly to be deprecated at all times. These scenes, 
however, are enjoyed immensely by a certain portion — and that 
usually a large one — of the galleries, who come there for ex- 
citement and to luxuriate on a sensation. 

A few days after this occurred, Mr. Clay assumed the office 
of peacemaker. He rose and said, " An incident occurred a 
few days ago which gave me very great pain, and I am quite 

* Colonel Benton's Thirty Years' View. 
16 



242 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



sure that the whole Senate participated in the feeHng." He 
then spoke of what had occurred between the two Senators, 
and expressed his confidence that it arose out of a misunder- 
standing and that zeal and warmth which both the gentlemen 
felt, — the one to carry, the other to defeat the measure. He 
then paid a glowing compliment to the speech which Mr. 
Poindexter made against the bill at the time ; but said that in 
concluding his able speech, it appeared to him and to others, 
and doubtless to the Senator from Massachusetts, that there 
was something personal and peculiarly harsh in his language. 
Acting on the feeling which this would naturally produce, the 
Senator from Massachusetts, in the course of his observations, 
also used language which may have seemed unnecessarily 
harsh; but, from the sense in which he (Mr. Clay) understood 
the language of the Senator from Mississippi, the Senator from 
Massachusetts might have found some justification. 

Mr. Clay said he was sure that both Senators entertaifted a 
high respect for each other, and there could be no cause for 
permanent estrangement. He said he should feel deep regret 
and pain if the two honorable Senators should be separated by 
hostile feelings thus originating, and he did not doubt that the 
Senate shared with him in his regret. After speaking in this 
conciliatory strain for some time, he resumed his seat, when 
Mr. Poindexter rose, and in some very appropriate remarks 
expressed his sincere regret at what had occurred. The Sen- 
ator from Massachusetts, he said, well knew the respect and 
kindness he (Mr. P.) bore for him ; and he assured him it was 
not his intention to reflect either upon his personal or political 
character, or to trespass on his feelings. 

Mr. Webster then rose and said it was not more a matter of 
regret to the Senator from Mississippi than to himself that the 
misunderstanding had occurred; their intercourse had been on 
a footing of kindness and courtesy ever since they had met, 
and there was no Senator towards whom he was less inclined 
to manifest any want of decorum. He thought the Senator's 
remarks had a strong personal bearing on himself, and that 
they were so. intended. He was very happy to hear the honor- 
able Senator disavow such intention. On his part, after further 



AN EPISODE IN THE SENATE. 



243 



remarks, he disavowed any intention to offer any personal 
disrespect in his answer to the remarks of the Senator towards 
him. 

Mr. Poindexter again rose, and said that the disclaimer of 
the Senator from Massachusetts called for a further explanation 
from him. He admitted that he used expressions in reply to 
Mr. W. which were harsh, and might appear to be a violation 
of the respect which ought to be preserved between members 
of that body. He now, with great pleasure, retracted those 
expressions, hastily used on the impulse of the moment, and 
tendered his hand to the honorable Senator in perfect sincerity 
and cordiality. 

The two Senators then advanced towards each other, met, 
and shook hands, to the great gratification of the whole body 
and themselves. 



CHAPTER IV. 

The President makes a Tour to the Eastern States. — Great Attention and Respect 
paid him. — Black Hawk. — The Cherokee Missionaries. — An Exciting Scene in 
the Senate between Mr. Clay and Colonel Benton. — The Past raked up. — The 
Bank Bill vetoed. — Effect upon Parties. — Nullification in South Carolina. — 
President's Proclamation. — Governor Hayne in Reply. — South Carolina in an 
Attitude of Resistance. — Movements of the Government against South Carolina. 
— Removal of the Public Deposits from the Bank of the United States. — First 
Session of the Twenty-third Congress. — The " Panic Session." — Mr. Clay's 
Resolutions condemning the Removal of the Deposits. — Proceedings thereon in 
the Senate. — The National Republican takes the Name of the Whig Party. — 
Great Numbers of Memorials and Delegations sent to Congress and the Presi- 
dent. — The Country greatly excited.' — Mr. Binney. — The President's Protest 
against Clay's Resolutions, passed by the Senate, censuring him. — The Virginia 
Resolutions. — Great Commotion from a Small Clause : the Figure-Head of Jack- 
son on " Old Ironsides" sawed off. — A Change in the Cabinet : Taney succeeds 
Duane in the Treasury Department. — The " Pet Banks." — A Gold Currency 
promised. — The Death of Five Distinguished Men. — The Muse of History 
recording the Doings of the House of Representatives. — Unfriendly Relation 
with France. — Attempted Assassination of the President. — Mr. Calhoun's Re- 
port on Executive Patronage, and Debate thereon. — A Pleasant Interpellation: 
Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Clay. — Mismanagement of the Post-Office Department. 
— William Cost Johnson backs down the Hot-headed Champions of the Post- 
master-General. — Presidential Candidates nominated. — The National Conven- 
tion of the Jackson Party held at Baltimore ; nominates Mr. Van Buren for 
President, and Colonel R. M.Johnson for Vice-President. — Delegates " fresh 
from the People," self-appointed. — Mob to put down Abolitionism in Boston. 
— Expunging Resolution. — Death of Chief-Justice John Marshall. — Distribution 
of the Surplus Revenue. — The Mania of Speculation. — The Moon Hoax. — 
First Session of the Twenty-fourth Congress. — Abolition Petitions. — Stirring 
Scenes in the House of Representatives. — Mr. Adams's Extraordinary Speech. — 
Mr. Wise's ditto. — Scathing Replies to Mr. Adams by Mr. Harlan and Mr. 
•George Evans. — United States Bank re-chartered by the Pennsylvania Legisla- 
ture. — Rebellion and Revolution in Texas. — The Massacre of Colonels Fannin 
and Ward, and their Men, at Goliad. — The Massacre of Colonel Crockett at the 
Alamo. — The Bloody Battle of San Jacinto : Santa Anna defeated and taken 
Prisoner.— Seminole War. — The Specie Circular. — Its Effect on the Country. — 
A Protracted and very Exciting Scene in the House. — A Gloomy Day in the 
Senate. — The Expunging Resolution passed. — Chancellor Kent's Letter to Mr. 
Clay. — The Expungers have a Royal Feast at the White House. — General 
Jackson's Administration closes, and he returns to the Hermitage. — A Sketch 
of him. — His Death. 
244 



JACKSON'S SECOND INAUGURATION. 245 

MARCH 4, 1833. GENERAL JACKSON's SECOND INAUGURATION. 

The Twenty-second Congress ended on the 3d of March, 
1833, and General Jackson was inaugurated for a second term 
on the 4th. 

The Compromise act having put nullification to rest, and the 
House of Representatives having declared it safe to continue the 
deposits of the public funds in the Bank of the United States, 
there seemed to be nothing to agitate the public mind, or to 
prevent the period between the adjournment of the last and 
the assembling of the next Congress from being as calm as the 
preceding year had been tempestuous. There was, to the ordi- 
nary eye, no cloud on the horizon ; all looked clear and calm. 

BURNING OF THE TREASURY. 

An incident occurred in Washington after the adjournment 
of Congress, which caused great sensation there, and attracted 
the notice of the country ; namely, the burning of the treasury 
building, on the night of the 30th or morning of the 31st of 
March. The fire was not generally supposed to have been 
accidental. It commenced in a room in which were papers the 
destruction of which was supposed to be highly desirable by 
certain parties, and which were destroyed. This was the 
second time in thirty-three years, Mr. Niles stated, that a 
destructive fire had occurred ii) that department. 

The President immediately directed the Secretaries of State, 
Treasury, and War, and the Attorney-General and Postmaster- 
General, to investigate the matter and report. They did so, but 
were unable to obtain any satisfactory account of the origin of 
the fire. Many books and papers were destroyed, chiefly old 
records and files ; but, on the whole, the fire did not involve 
the government in a very heavj' loss, except the building. 

THE president's TOUR. 

During the early part of the summer of 1833 the President 
took a tour North and East, passing through Baltimore, Phila- 
delphia, New York, Providence, Boston, and Portsmouth, where 
his tour ended, or rather at which point he retraced his steps, 

1 



246 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

though it had been his intention to go at least as far as Port- 
land, Me. 

At every place on his way he was received with the respect 
due to the chief magistrate of the nation by all parties, and by 
his special friends or partisans with great eclat and enthusiasm, 
making himself agreeable to all by that dignified suavity and 
lofty courtesy which he could display when not chafed or in 
bad humor. 

In no place was the demonstration of respect to the Presi- 
dent more marked than in Boston, a city most decidedly 
opposed to him and his policy, but whose enlightened citizens 
could lay aside their hostility to the man when called upon to 
pay respect to the office and its occupant. 

Ill health was the cause given for his suddenly facing about 
and hastily returning to Washington. 

BLACK HAWK. 

I have omitted to mention in its proper chronological place 
what was called "the Black Hawk war," a war waged by the 
noted Indian chief of that name ; and I should not now refer 
to it except that Black Hawk, having, with his family and some 
of his subordinate chiefs, been taken prisoner and brought to 
Washington, became an object of much curiosity and sympathy 
with the people of the East. Indeed, he was a " hero" in their 
eyes, as was shown by their attentions to him, and by the 
crowds that gathered round him and sometimes impeded his 
progress altogether. 

After being kept at Washington for some weeks, he and his 
followers, including his son, were released and permitted to 
proceed homeward, to the Mississippi River, Wisconsin, with 
an agent. They went by the way of Baltimore, Philadelphia, 
New York, Albany, etc. ; and it so happened that he arrived at 
Philadelphia nearly at the same time that General Jackson 
arrived, so that the city had two heroes within her bounds at 
the same time. It may be considered invidious to say that the 
hero of " Bad Axe" attracted greater attention and was fol- 
lowed by far greater crowds than the " hero of New Orleans ;" 
yet so it was. 



PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 1832. 247 

On the arrival of the boat at the wharf at New York, on 
board of which was this Indian chief, such was the immense 
crowd gathered to see him that it was more than an hour 
before he could land, and it was almost impossible to make 
way for him to the quarters he was to occupy. A somewhat 
similar scene occurred at Albany. At Baltimore, so immense 
were the numbers who crowded to see him and his followers, 
that it was found necessary to quarter them in Fort McHenry 
to avoid the crowd. 

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 1 832. 

The Presidential campaign of 1832 was an earnest one. The 
events of General Jackson's administration had kept the coun- 
try greatly excited, and caused party spirit to run high. The 
two parties were exceedingly exasperated against each other. 

The National Republicans opposed the re-election of General 
Jackson, on the ground that he had, while seeking the office, 
proclaimed that no man ought to hold that high office for 
more than a single term, but was now a candidate for a second 
term ; that he had violated, or disregarded, every principle he 
himself had announced previous to his election. Foremost of 
these was the declaration that members of Congress ought not 
to be appointed to office during the term for which they were 
elected, and for two years thereafter, and that if such continued 
to be the practice, corruption would become the order of the 
day; whereas, in the face of this declaration, which won him 
great popularity with the people, he had himself appointed more 
members of Congress to office during the first six months of 
his administration than had been appointed by lijs predecessors 
from the commencement of the government down to his time. 
They charged him, also, with coming into office with the 
promise of retrenching the expenses of the government, wiiereas 
he had more than doubled them. They charged him, further, 
with recommending to Mr. Monroe the patriotic course, in 
selecting his cabinet, of disregarding /^r/j' lines, and thus " to 
destroy the monster, party ;" that the President should be the 
head of the nation, and not of a party; whereas he had, in vio- 
lation of this precept, been more proscriptivc on party grounds 



248 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

than any one had ever been, — acting upon what had been de- 
nominated "the spoils system." They charged him, moreover, 
with manifesting an unreasonable hostility to the United States, 
Bank, and of doing the country great injury by trying "experi- 
ments" upon the currency; of appointing bad men to office; 
of exhibiting a fierce and irascible temper; of encouraging 
bullies to attack members of Congress for words spoken in 
debate ; and of disregarding and refusing to have executed 
the decision and decree of the United States Supreme Court, 
claiming an equal right with that tribunal to judge of the 
constitutionality of a law. 

On the other hand, the Jackson men denounced the United 
States Bank as a monster, and Nick Biddle as " Old Nick" 
himself; justified all the measures and acts of the President; 
promised the people a gold and silver currency instead of 
" Clay's rag money ;" dwelt with delight upon " the yellow 
boys," the "Jackson currency," and "Benton mint-drops," — 
though no one, except now and then an office-holder, ever 
saw a gold coin. Their presses teemed with charges of " bar- 
gain and corruption," — the old calumny against Mr. Clay, — 
freely indulging in the use of the epithets of " Federalists," 
"Blue Lights," " Hartford Conventionists," etc., delighting, at 
the same time, to laud the President as " the hero of New 
Orleans," " the old Roman," and applying to him the affec- 
tionate sobriquet of " Old Hickory." But their most effective 
mode of promoting their cause and stirring the enthusiasm 
of their followers was the raising of hickory poles, the em- 
blem, of course, of " Old Hickor}^" These hickory poles, or 
hickory-trees trimmed so as to leave no limbs or foliage 
except a bunch at the top, were to be seen everywhere : every 
city ward had its hickory pole at the head-quarters of the 
party ; every town, village, hamlet, and cross-roads was deco- 
rated with them. They were cut and trimmed in the woods 
and hauled and raised amidst enthusiastic " hurrahs for Jack- 
son," always by comparatively large crowds, — not all as sober 
as deacons, — sometimes with much ceremony, oratory, music, 
and a procession. 

M. Chevalier, the French traveler, then in this country, 



PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 1832. 



249 



speaks thus of a Jackson procession he witnessed in New York: 
" It was nearly a mile long. The Democrats marched in good 
order, to the glare of torches ; the banners were more nu- 
merous than I had ever seen them in any religious festival : all 
were in transparency, on account of the darkness. On some 
were inscribed the names of the Democratic societies or sec- 
tions ; others bore imprecations against the Bank of the United 
States : Nick Biddlc and Old Nick here figured largely. . . . 
From farther than the eye could reach came marching on the 
Democrats. The procession stopped before the houses of the 
Jackson men to fill the air with cheers, and halted at the doors 
of the leaders of the opposition to give three, six, or nine 
groans. These scenes," says M. Chevalier, " belong to history 
and partake of the grand ; tliey are the episodes of a wondrous 
epic which will bequeath a lasting memory to posterity." 

This was on the occasion of a hickory-pole raising. 

Such displays as are here mentioned beget enthusiasm, and 
do more to win a certain class than all the arguments and all 
the printed matter that ever flowed from the lips or was poured 
forth from the press, as our experience taught us in 1 840. 
This was emphatically " the Hickory-Pole Campaign." 

The election took place, and from the result one would have 
inferred that there had been no serious opposition. 

Maine, New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl- 
vania, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, 
Louisiana, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri 
gave their entire votes for General Jackson, and Maryland 
gave him three. The same vote was given for Van Buren for 
Vice-President, except that of Pennsylvania, cast for William 
Wilkins. The votes of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con- 
necticut, Delaware, Kentucky, and five votes of Maryland were 
cast for Clay and Sergeant; that of Vermont, for Wirt and Ell- 
maker. South Carolina threw her vote away upon Floyd and Lee. 



For 


President. 




For Vice-President. 




Jackson 


• 


219 


Van Buren 


1 89 


Clay . 


. 


49 


Sergeant .... 


49 


Wirt . 


■ • 


7 


Ellmaker .... 


7 


Floyd . 


. 


II 


Lee 

Wilkins .... 


II 

30 



250 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



THE CHEROKEE MISSIONARIES. 



When I last spoke of the Cherokee missionaries, Revs. S. A. 
Worcester and Elizur Butler, it was in reference to the decision 
of the Supreme Court which declared the act of Georgia, under 
which they were convicted and imprisoned, unconstitutional, 
and contrary to the laws and treaties of the United States. 
They were then in prison ; but the President, assuming to be 
independent of the Supreme Court, and to have the same right 
to judge of the constitutionality of a law as that tribunal had, 
refused to order its mandate to be executed, which was, that 
the prisoners should be released : consequently they remained 
in prison until, upon their petition to Governor Lumpkin, of 
Georgia, for release, he graciously pardoned and released them ! 
Their crime, it will be remembered, was residing in the Cherokee 
territory, by permission of the President of the United States, 
without license from his Excellency the Governor of Georgia. 

Immediately upon the close of Congress, a few days after 
the passage of the Compromise and Force bills, Mr. Calhoun 
departed for South Carolina, and, hastening to Columbia with 
all speed, arrived there in time to meet the State convention, 
which stood adjourned to meet immediately after the close of 
Congress, to await what might be done to satisfy their demands. 
Some of the hottest of the Hotspurs were dissatisfied with the 
Compromise, as being an insufficient measure ; but Mr. Cal- 
houn's explanations and influence were enough to induce the 
convention cordially to approve his course and to repeal the 
ordinance of nullification ; thus restoring things in that State 
to their normal condition, — the two parties in the State, the 
Nullifiers and the Unionists, abandoning their respective organ- 
izations and forgetting past differences. 

Mr. Calhoun's neck had been rescued from the halter with 
which he was threatened by the President, by Mr. Clay's " heal- 
ing and tranquillizing measure," the " Compromise ;" and from 
this time until he went back to the Democratic party, in 1837, 
he acted harmoniously with the Whigs. 

In some parts of the country Mr. Clay was lauded to the 
echo for what he had done. In other parts, and especially in 



CA L HO UN ' S NUL L IFICA TION RE SOL UTIONS. 2 5 I 

Pennsylvania, he was consigned to the bottomless pit. But what 
right had Pennsylvania to complain of Henry Clay for aban- 
doning, as she alleged, his own great American system ? What 
claim had she upon him? When did she ever lay him under 
obligation to her by her support ? Clamorous always for the 
protection of her manufactures, and loudest in her professions 
of attachment to those measures of which he had always been 
the most distinguished champion and consistent supporter, she 
had at all times shown her appreciation of him by opposing him 
whenever she had an opportunity to do so ; and she consistently 
continued her opposition, even at the sacrifice of her favorite 
measures, not only opposing him, but industriously heaping 
calumny upon his name, down to the day of his death. 

The energetic course pursued by General Jackson towards 
South Carolina raised him to the zenith of his popularity. 
Mr. Webster also largely increased the high estimation he was 
held in, by his prompt and able support of the President's 
proclamation and the " Force bill." 

Simultaneously with the vehement debate in the Senate upon 
the Force bill, Mr. Calhoun introduced a series of " resolutions 
on the powers of the government," involving the doctrine of 
nullification. The first declared that the people of the several 
States are united as parties to a constitutional compact ; that 
the Union, of which the said compact is the bond, is a union 
between the States ratifying the same. 

The second declared that the people of the several States 
thus united created a general government, to carry into effect 
the objects for which they were formed, and delegated certain 
definite powers, to be exercised jointly ; the residuary mass 
of powers to be exercised by its own government ; and that 
whenever the general government assumes the exercise of 
powers not delegated by the compact, its acts are unauthorized 
and of no effect ; and that in such case each State, without any 
common judge, has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of 
the infraction as of the mode and measure of redress. 

The third resolution is negative ; denying every doctrine 
asserted by Mr. Webster in his speech in reply to Colonel 
Hayne, and put forth in the proclamation. 



252 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



Mr. Calhoun sustained these resolutions in a thoroughly- 
studied metaphysical speech, characteristic of his peculiar 
abilities. 

In reply to these resolutions, Mr. Webster presented in four 
brief, compact propositions his views of the nature of our 
Federal government, as being a Union instead of a League, and 
as acting upon individuals, in contradistinction to States : 

" I. That the Constitution of the United States is not a league, 
confederacy, or compact between the people of the several States 
in their sovereign capacities, but a government proper, founded 
on the adoption of the people, and creating direct relation be- 
tween itself and individuals. 

" 2. That no State authority has power to dissolve these rela- 
tions ; that nothing can dissolve them but revolution ; and that, 
consequently, there can be no such thing as secession without 
revolution, 

" 3. That there is a supreme law, consisting of the Constitu- 
tion of the United States, acts of Congress passed in pursuance 
of it, and treaties ; and that in cases not capable of assuming the 
character of a suit in law or equity, Congress must judge of, 
and finally interpret, this supreme law, so often as it has occa- 
sion to pass acts of legislation ; and in cases capable of assuming 
and actually assuming the character of a suit the Supreme Court 
of the United States is the final interpreter. 

" 4. That an attempt by a State to abrogate, annul, or nullify 
an act of Congress, or to arrest its operation within her limits, 
on the ground that, in her opinion, such law is unconstitutional, 
is a direct usurpation on the just powers of the general govern- 
ment and on the equal rights of other States, a plain violation 
of the Constitution, and a proceeding essentially revolutionary 
in its character and tendency." 

Mr. Webster sustained these propositions by an elaborate 
argument, peculiarly Websterian. But they have since been 
established beyond peradventure by the War of the Rebellion, 
which at the same time killed all such heresies as the propo- 
sitions of Mr. Calhoun. No State would now for a moment 
assert the right to judge of the binding force of an act of 
Congress, or the right to secede from the Union. Such falla- 



REMOVAL OF DEPOSITS FROM U. S. BANK. 



253 



cies are of the past, of days never to return. The first gun at 
Fort Sumter blew nullification and secession into thin air. 

REMOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS FROM THE UNITED STATES BANK. 

During the summer of 1833, Mr. McLane was transferred 
from the Treasury to the State Department, as the successor of 
Mr. Livingston, appointed Minister to France ; and Mr. William 
J. Duane, of Philadelphia, was appointed Secretary of the 
Treasury. 

General Jackson had determined to remove the public de- 
posits from the United States Bank, but well knew that Mr. 
McLane was opposed to this measure and could not be 
induced to perform the act as Secretary of the Treasury ; he 
was therefore transferred to the State Department, and one 
who was supposed to be more pliant to the wishes of the Pres- 
ident was appointed his successor. But it turned out, as we 
shall see, that Mr. Duane was no less unwilling to be made 
the instrument to do what he could not approve than was 
Mr. McLane. 

The President had, in his annual message of 1832, recom- 
mended an inquiry into the condition of the bank, in order to 
allay "the apprehension that it is no longer a safe depository of 
the money of the people." Upon this suggestion, Mr. McLane, 
Secretary of the Treasury, appointed as agent to make the 
investigation Mr. Henry Toland, a Jackson man, who per- 
formed the duty faithfully. 
Mr. Toland reported that the liabilities of the 

bank amounted to $37,296,950.20 

And the funds to meet them, to . . . 79,593.870.97 



Showing an excess of .... . $42,296,920.77 
over liabilities in its vaults. 

He therefore reported that of the security of the public 
moneys and the solvency of the bank there could not, in his 
opinion, be a doubt. 

The House of Representatives, upon this showing, and after 
an investigation by the committee of ways and means, re- 
solved, by a vote of more than two-thirds, " That the govern- 



254 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



ment deposits may, in the opinion of this House, be safely 
continued in the Bank of the United States." 

This, however, did not stop the efforts of its assailants to 
create the belief that it was insolvent and unsafe. Something' 
must be done to operate on public opinion. Some stirring 
sensation must be produced ; some unquestionable demon- 
stration of the truth of their allegations must, if possible, be 
effected. How should it be done? A happy thought suggested 
itself: namely, to break one of the branch banks, of which 
there were ten or twelve, situated in different commercial cities. 
If any one of these branch banks could be broken, the public 
would at once take the alarm and believe the whole concern 
rotten ; and so the idea was at once adopted, the scheme put 
into the hands of a shrewd operator in Wall Street to be carried 
into effect, and the branch at Savannah selected as the one to 
be the victim. 

Savannah was then far distant from the commercial centres, 
New York and Philadelphia, and the business of the bank was 
comparatively small, consisting chiefly in drafts upon cotton 
sales, requiring very little specie, of which there was a small 
amount, no way comparable to the amount of its bills in circu- 
lation, kept in its vaults. It was an easy matter, therefore, for 
the broker in New York employed to carry the nefarious 
scheme into effect to secure a vastly larger amount of the bills 
of the bank than there was usually specie in its vaults ; and if 
it could only be caught napping, if a large amount of its bills 
could be obtained and presented for redemption before the 
bank should suspect the plot laid for it, the thing would be 
accomplished, its bills protested, its doors closed. " The plot 
was a very good plot." But let us see how it turned out. 

In the parlor of the mother-bank, in Philadelphia, sat "Nick 
Biddle," " calm as a summer's morning," reading the weekly 
reports made to him by the presidents of the several branch 
banks. " Of course," says one who has told the story very 
amusingly, " Old Nick was constantly on the alert for his cun- 
ning and powerful foes. Like a spider in the centre of his net, 
he watched sharply to see where and how it was threatened. 
Studying over the usual weekly returns one day, he observed 



REMOVAL OF DEPOSITS FROM U. S. BANK. 



255 



in the return from one branch, ' We return you less than our 
average of Savannah branch notes.' This was not calculated 
to arrest any special attention. But when other branches, the 
next and for several successive weeks, made the same return, 
it may be supposed that the wary president did not fail to note 
these significant signs. 

"Just what it all meant he could only guess ; but he guessed 
right. So, keeping his own counsel, he quietly shipped two 
hundred thousand dollars of specie to the Savannah branch, 
with a letter of caution and advice to the president." 

Meantime, the operator in New York, having secured some 
one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five thousand 
dollars of the bills of the Savannah Branch Bank, departed 
southward, confident of closing her doors. 

Arriving safely at Savannah, he wended his way next morn- 
ing to the bank. Expressing a wish to see the president on 
important business, he was shown into his room and politely 
received. He soon informed the president that he was a broker 
from New York ; that he had a quantity of his bills which he 
had brought for redemption, and that the amount was probably 
much larger than was usually presented at any one time. This 
did not at all surprise or disconcert that officer, who said he 
should be happy to give him drafts on New Orleans or New 
York for the amount. These were, however, declined, and the 
specie demanded. The president said he could have the specie 
or the drafts in New York, and thereby save transportation and 
insurance. But no: the specie he must have then and there; 
and so it was counted out, keg after keg. But when a hundred 
or a hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars had been counted, 
and still the kegs came rolling out, Mr. Broker began to think 
he might as well accept drafts on New York, and kindly offered 
to do so. It was too late, however : the president told him he 
wished to get rid of the specie, and was much obliged to him 
for relieving him of it. So he had the satisfaction of shipping 
the specie to New York, and paying freight and insurance 
thereon, when he might have had drafts. Thus " Old Nick" 
baffled this cunningly-devised scheme to break one of his 
branch banks and create a money panic. 



256 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



The proposed measure of removing the pubHc deposits from 
the Bank of the United States was General Jackson's own. It 
was well known that neither Mr. McLane, Mr. Duane, General 
Cass, nor any one of the cabinet proper, favored the measure, 
except Mr. Taney, and that Mr. Van Buren and William B. 
Lewis were also averse to it. But it was earnestly urged by 
Mr. Kendall, Mr. Blair, Mr. Taney, and probably Colonel 
Benton. 

This opposition induced the President to assume the entire 
responsibility of the measure, which he did in a paper read to 
his cabinet on the i8th of September, giving his reasons for 
the act. After admitting that " the power of the Secretary of 
the Treasury over the deposits is unqualified," he says, in his 
closing paragraph, " The President again repeats that he begs 
his cabinet to consider the proposed measure as his own, in the 
support of which he shall require no one of them to make a 
sacrifice of opinion or principle. Its responsibility has been 
assumed after the most mature deliberation and reflection, as 
necessary to preserve the morals of the people, the freedom of 
the press, and the purity of the elective franchise." 

This paper was drawn up by Mr. Taney, General Jackson 
tried every means to induce Mr. Duane to give the order for 
the removal ; but his efforts proved fruitless. Mr. Duane firmly 
refused to perform the act unless Congress should so order. 
General Jackson therefore removed him on the 23d of Septem- 
ber, and Mr. Taney was appointed his successor immediately 
after. On the 26th, three days after this change in the cabinet, 
the public deposits were removed. 

The sensation produced by this extraordinary*act in com- 
mercial, financial, and business circles in every part of the 
United States was unprecedented. The banks in every part of 
the country, but especially in the commercial cities, were com- 
pelled to call in their loans and curtail their circulation ; trade 
and commerce became embarrassed ; distrust and uncertainty 
everywhere prevailed, putting a stop to enterprise ; produce 
was reduced in value, and was unsalable; manufactures were 
checked, laborers thrown out of employment, failures and bank- 
ruptcies of daily occurrence, and general financial distress per- 



THE PANIC SESSION. 



257 



vaded the country. Thousands were stricken down from wealth 
to povert}^, overtaken, as it were, in a serene and cloudless day 
by a sweeping and destructive tornado. 

The country felt the storm from centre to circumference. 
Meetings were everywhere held ; many of the friends, as well 
as the opponents, of the administration, gave vent to their dis- 
approbation of this act, and united in remonstrances against it. 
The press teemed with denunciations of the measure ; and it 
seemed as if the President, obstinate and stubborn as he was 
known to be, could not resist the general clamor and the influ- 
ence brought to bear upon him. 

The hostility thus exhibited against the bank, now deprived 
of the public funds, rendered it imperatively necessary that it 
should protect itself by curtailing its discounts and accommo- 
dations, and this of itself aggravated the prevailing commercial 
distress. 

But, of course, it was charged by the government presses 
with creating and doing all in its power to increase the public 
distress, and with making all the mischief to revenge itself for 
being deprived of the deposits. 

FIRST SESSION OF THE TWENTY-THIKD CONGRESS; CALLED THE 

PANIC SESSION. 

On the assembling of the Twenty-third Congress, the Presi- 
dent in his annual message spoke of what had been done by 
the Secretary of the Treasury, with his approval, and dealt some 
blows at the bank, accusatory of its doings as reported by the 
government directors, by way of justifying his extraordinary 
proceeding towards that institution. The Secretary also, in his 
report to Congress, gave his reasons for removing the public 
funds from the bank, and thus the matter had come before 
Congress for its action. 

It had been anticipated, since the dismissal of Mr. Duane, 
that the approaching session would be a very stormy one : it 
could not be otherwise ; the whole country was in a high state 
of excitement and ebullition ; banks were failing, bankruptcies 
daily taking place, business broken up, and confidence shaken. 

In the Senate there was a small anti-administration majority, 

17 



258 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

reckoning Mr. Calhoun and his few friends adverse to the ad- 
ministration, as he and they now were. 

In the House, Stevenson, administration, was re-elected 
Speaker by 142 to 75. The war of the giants soon opened. At 
the commencement of the session the President nominated to 
the Senate, as government directors of the bank, James A. Bay- 
ard, Peter Wager, H. D. Gilpin, John T. Sullivan, and Hugh 
McEllery. The nomination of Mr. Bayard was confirmed; that 
of the other nominees, who had maintained a very hostile atti- 
tude to the bank for some time past, was rejected, — 25 to 20. 

With his wonted determination not to be thwarted in his 
purposes, the President immediately re-nominated those who had 
been rejected, who were as promptly again rejected, — 30 to 11. 

MR. clay's resolutions CONDEMNING THE REMOVAL OF THE 

DEPOSITS. 

Mr. Clay led off in the Senate against the recent acts of the 
President and Secretary. On the nth of December he called 
for a copy of the paper read by the President to his cabinet, 
which was refused. He then, on the 26th, presented the two 
following resolutions : 

" I. Resolved, That the President, in the late executive pro- 
ceedings in relation to the public revenue, has assumed upon 
himself authority and power not conferred by the Constitution 
and laws, but in derogation of both. 

" 2. That the reasons assigned by the Secretary for the re- 
moval are unsatisfactory and insufficient." 

Mr. Clay followed up these resolutions by one of his masterly 
speeches, of two days' length : great it truly was, for great was 
the occasion, and great he felt must be the effort to resist what 
he deemed high-handed executive usurpations and assumptions 
of power. As usual when he was expected to address the 
Senate, the galleries were packed, and every avenue to the 
chamber where his voice could be heard, although he could 
not be seen, was densely crowded. He opened his speech by 
saying, in a solemn and impressive tone that reached the heart 
of every hearer, " Mr. President : We are in the midst of a 
revolution ; bloodless as yet, but rapidly tending towards a total 



MR. CLAY'S RESOLUTIONS. 2-'0 

change of the pure repubhcan character of the government, and 
to the concentration of all power in the hands of one man. The 
powers of Congress are paralyzed, except when exerted in con- 
formity to his will, by the frequent and extraordinary exercise 
of the executive veto. 

******** 

"The judiciary has not been exempt from the prevailing 
rage for innovation. Decisions of the tribunals, deliberately 
pronounced, have been contemptuously disregarded, and the 
sanctity of numerous treaties openly violated." 

In the paper read to his cabinet by General Jackson, a copy 
of which he refused to send to the Senate upon its call, he said, 
" The President begs his cabinet to consider the proposed 
measure as his own. Its responsibility is assumed!' 

Commenting on this, Mr. Clay said, — 

"Sir, is there a Senator here who will tell me that this re- 
moval was not made by the President ?" 

In that paper the President had said, and Mr. Clay read, " In 
the remarks he has made on this all-important question, he 
trusts the Secretary of the Treasury will see only the frank and 
respectful declarations of the opinions which the President has 
formed on a measure of great national interest, deeply affecting 
the character and usefulness of his administration ; and not a 
spirit of dictation, which the President would be as careful to 
avoid as ready to resist." 

" Sir," said Mr. Clay, "how kind ! how gentle ! The Secre- 
tary was told by the President that he had not the slightest 
wish to dictate, — oh, no; nothing is further from the President's 
intentions. But, sir, what was he told in the sequel ? * If you do 
not comply with my wishes, you must quit office.'" 

The famous " paper" reads, " Its responsibility has been 
assumed, after the mo.st mature deliberation and reflection, as 
necessary to preserve the morals of the people, the freedom of the 
press, and the purity of the elective franchise!' 

" The morals of the people !" exclaimed Mr. Clay. " What 
part of the Constitution has given to the President any power 
over ' the morals of the people' ?" And he proceeded to remark 
upon this paragraph of the "paper" with scorching sarcasm. 



26o .PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

But enough has been quoted to give an idea, though a very- 
faint one, of this most eloquent speech. Let another, a 
patriot and hfe-long Democrat, — an original Jackson man, — 
speak of it. 

Governor Erastus Root, of Delaware County, New York, 
writing to Mr. Clay on the 12th of January, 1834, asks, — 

" When will the mad career of the ' military chieftain' be 
checked ? or is it never to meet with a check? Will a thoug-ht- 
less multitude, led on or encouraged by knavish politicians, 
always sing paeans of praise to the usurpations of a despot, 
if emblazoned with military renown ?" . . . 

Chief-Justice Ambrose Spencer, of New York, in a private 
letter written within a few days of this time, says, " I feel, as I 
did when I saw you, most desponding at the prospect before 
us ; and yet, were I called to act, I would, if possible, nerve 
myself for the contest, and fight the battle on the last inch 
of ground left." 

Mr. Benton replied, defending the President and Secretary, 
and justifying the acts of both. From this discussion arose 
what was termed "the independent, or sub-treasury," now in 
existence. 

Mr. Calhoun supported Mr. Clay's resolutions. He said, 
" The Senator from Kentucky read a striking passage from 
Plutarch, descriptive of Caesar forcing himself, sword in hand, 
into the treasury of the Roman commonwealth. We are in the 
same stage of our political revolution, and the analogy between 
the two cases is complete, varied only by the character of the 
actors and the circumstances of the times. That was a case of 
an intrepid, bold warrior seizing forcibly the treasury of the 
country. The actors in our case are artful, cunning, and cor- 
rupt politicians. They have entered the treasury with the false 
keys of sophistry, as pilferers, under the silence of midnight. . . . 
The Senator said truly, and, let me add, philosophically, that 
'we are in the midst of a revolution.' " 

On the 5th of January, 1834, Mr. Webster, from the commit- 
tee on finance, made an elaborate report on the removal of the 
deposits, embracing Mr. Clay's second resolution, namely, "that 
the reasons assigned by the Secretary for the removal were 



VIRGINIA RESOLUTIONS. 26 1 

unsatisfactory and insufficient." Upon the recommendation of 
the committee, the resolution was adopted, — ayes 28, noes 18. 

The other resolution occupied the Senate and underwent 
debate from time to time till the 28th of March, 1834, when it 
passed, 26 to 20, in the following form : 

^^ Resolved, That the President, in the late executive proceed- 
ings in relation to the public revenue, has assumed upon him- 
self authority and power not conferred by the Constitution 
and laws, but in derogation of both." 

This is the famous resolution which was afterwards expufiged. 

VIRGINIA RESOLUTIONS. 

Many State Legislatures took up the subject of the removal 
of the deposits, and passed resolutions expressive of their views 
thereon. Among the first to do this was the General Assembly 
of Virginia, which adopted a series of eight or ten resolutions, 
couched in strong, clear, decisive language. The first resolu- 
tion declared the removal of Mr. Duane because he would not 
do an act he deemed wrong, at the bidding of the President, to 
be a palpable usurpation of power. Another read thus: "Re- 
solved, That the recent removal of the Federal deposits from 
the Bank of the United States and its branches, at the instance 
and upon the responsibility of the President of the United 
States, is regarded as an alarming usurpation of power, and a 
breach of the public faith." 

These resolutions having been transmitted to Congress, as 
well as to the Senators and Representatives in Congress from 
that State, Mr. Rives, a Jackson Senator, immediately resigned 
his seat in the Senate, and was succeeded by Benjamin Watkins 
Leigh, who concurred with the Assembly. 

THE NATIONAL REPUBLICAN BECOMES THE WHIG PARTY. 

The excitement created by the removal of the deposits, in- 
stead of abating, continue.d to increase during the winter and 
spring of 1834. As the pressure in the money-market grew 
more stringent, business became more deranged, and failures 
multiplied in commercial cities. There was a financial panic ; 
and large meetings were held, memorials to Congress signed 



262 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

by tens of thousands, without distinction of party, and these 
memorials sent to Congress by large committees composed of 
men of the highest character, wealth, and influence in the re- 
spective localities from which the memorials emanated. The 
opponents of the administration charged that the government 
had become a " one-man power ;" that the President had 
usurped powers not belonging to him, and that he was arbi- 
trary, tyrannical, imperious, dictatorial, and regardless of the 
Constitution and laws, trampling both under foot whenever 
they obstructed his will. 

A number of gentlemen were about to publish a tri-weekly 
political paper, to be called the " Star-Spangled Banner," and I 
suggested to one of the writers (Joseph Mcllvaine, recorder of 
Philadelphia) that we had better drop the name by which we were 
then designated, and assume one that appealed to the patriotic 
feelings and sympathy of the masses. " But," said ]^r. Mc- 
llvaine, " unfortunately, we have no such name." I replied, I 
thought we had ; that the term " IV/i/g-" was such a one ; that 
it was the name by which the patriots of the Revolution were 
known ; that it was synonymous with a friend of liberty and an 
opponent of arbitrary government. 

After discussing the subject, Mr. Mcllvaine concurred in my 
proposition, and at his suggestion I wrote an article proposing 
this change, which appeared in the first number of the " Star- 
Spangled Banner," on the eleventh day of February, 1834; 
from which time that paper designated the opposition party as 
Whigs, using no other term. The paper was sent to every anti- 
Jackson member of Congress of any prominence during the 
session, and soon the term IVhig was generally adopted. 

MEMORIALS AND DELEGATIONS. 

Many delegations were sent from the cities, towns, and 
counties in the Northern, Middle, and Eastern States with 
memorials to Congress, and instructed to call personally on 
the President, represent the state of the country to him, and 
remonstrate with him. These delegations performed the duty 
assigned them, held interviews with Senators and members of 
Congress, returned home, reported to public meetings called 



MEMORIALS AND DELEGATIONS. 263 

for the purpose, and many of their reports were made public 
and spread broadcast over the country. 

The delegation from Philadelphia to the President was the 
first in order, and the first whose report was published. The 
delegation was composed of s'ome fifteen or twenty of the most 
respectable citizens, headed by Elihu Chauncy; its report was 
drawn up by Joseph McTlvaine, and made to a large meeting 
held at the Exchange. The report was quite elaborate, giving 
an account of their interview with the President. I give a very 
brief synopsis of it : " The chairman had hardly announced 
the general nature of our mission, when the President inter- 
rupted him, and proceeded in a vehement discourse of more 
than twenty minutes to announce to us his opinions and his 
determinations in reference to the restoration of the deposits. 
Application for relief must be made to the United States 
Bank, not to him. Whatever distress existed was caused by 
the bank, to crush the State banks and compel the government 
to abandon its policy. The present directors had violated its 
charter. He regarded the bank as a monster of corruption. 
The law creating the bank was unconstitutional. Having made 
up his mind irrevocably in regard to the bank and deposits, 
Andrew Jackson never would restore the deposits, nor re-charter 
that 'monster;' he would undergo the tortures of the Spanish 
Inquisition before he would do either. He declared his purpose 
to continue the present system of collecting the revenue by 
State banks, until the expenmcnt had been full\- tried. The 
President admitted that considerable distress had followed the 
action of the government ; he had never doubted that brokers 
and stock speculators, and all who were doing business on 
borroived capital, would suffer severely; but all such oitglit to 
break y 

The interview, the delegation say, lasted about an hour, 
and dyring that time it had been impossible for the delegates, 
without unpardonable rudeness to the chief magistrate of the 
nation, to explain to him their business and their wishes. 

A delegation from Baltimore also called upon the President. 
They say in their report that when they made known tlieir 
mission, — that they came to ask relief, — "Relief, sir!" inter- 



264 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



rupted the President, greatly excited ; " come not to me for re- 
lief; go to the monster. Did not Nick Biddle come here, sir, 
and on his oath swear before a committee that with six mil- 
lions in his vaults he could meet the wants of the whole people? 
and now, when he has wrung more than ten millions from the 
people, he sends you to me." 

A delegation of a similar character from New York came to 
Washington and waited on the President for a similar purpose. 
It was headed by James G. King. The members of the dele- 
gation having been each introduced, Mr. King began, in a digni- 
fied manner, to inform the President of the object of their visit. 
He had uttered but a few words when the President broke in 
upon him with, — 

" Mr. King, you are the son of Rufus King, I believe ?" 

" Yes, sir." 

"Well, sir, Rufus King was always a Federalist, and I sup- 
pose you take after him. Insolvent ? What do you come to 
me for, then ? Go to Nicholas Biddle. We have no money 
here. He has millions in his vaults, and yet you come to me 
to save you from breaking." 

He continued denouncing Biddle and the bank for fifteen 
minutes, working himself into a high excitement, walking up 
and down the room, and finally declaring his unchangeable 
purpose not to restore the deposits. 

The same language was the reply to other delegations. 

Memorials continued to pour in to the Senate and House 
from every section of the country, — from the East, the North, 
the West, and the South ; some few from the supporters of the 
President, but Inostly from Boards of Trade, from Chambers of 
Commerce, from immense meetings of mechanics, from mer- 
chants, — indeed, from every class of people. Great meetings, 
too, were held, and addressed by able and ardent speakers, 
— one especially at Castle Garden, New York, composed of 
mechanics ; one in Philadelphia, which was attended by the 
various guilds, trades, associations, and companies, headed by 
their officers and respective banners, — forty thousand said to 
be present; one at Wilmington, Delaware, and one near Phila- 
delphia, both of which were composed of great multitudes.. 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 



i6s 



The latter was addressed by Mr. McDuffie and other Southern 
gentlemen, in their accustomed animating style. 

Mr. Poindexter, Mr. Preston, Mr. McDuffie, and other South- 
ern gentlemen visited Philadelphia and New York, where they 
were feted and listened to with great enthusiasm by multi- 
tudes, to whom their fiery oratory was a novelty. 

It was something new to see these anti-tariff, nullification 
orators, so lately denounced by Northern people, cheered to 
the very echo, both in Philadelphia and in New York, as they 
poured forth their scathing words against their former chief 

Speaking of this state of public feeling, Colonel Benton says, 
" It will be difficult for people in after-times to realize the 
degree of excitement, of agitation, of commotion, which was 
produced." He speaks of it as 7i frenzy. 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

I have thus far noted only the doings of the Senate at this 
session of Congress, for the reason that there the stirring 
measures which occupied that body and the House, and moved 
the country, commenced and absorbed attention. Formerly 
the House was the scene of the greatest attraction, as in that 
body the debates were more animated and took a wider scope 
than in the Senate. In the latter body, like that of the House 
of Lords, a sense of decorum prevented any lofty flights into 
the regions of imagination and eloquence, — grave argument 
and a subdued tone being, in primitive times, deemed strictly 
senatorial, as was a full-dress, knee-breeches and buckles, shoe- 
buckles, clubbed hair, ruffled shirts, etc., — a style of dress to 
which Mr. Rufus King and Mr. Gaillard adhered so long as 
they were in the Senate. 

But with the transfer of Mr. Webster, Mr. Clay, Mr. Calhoun, 
Mr. Forsyth, and Mr. Grundy to the Senate, an entire change 
took place, and that body became more popularized, and as- 
sumed a leading part in the doings of Congress, becoming the 
attractive and objective point of the Capitol. Its . contracted 
galleries were almost constantly crowded, and quite frequently 
jammed to overflowing. When the Senate-chamber was first 
completed, it was without galleries, as no one attended the 



266 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

debates, if sucli they might be called, in that body, which was 
too sedate, dignified, and dull to attract spectators. The intro- 
duction of more popular speakers and a different style of 
debate changed this, and forced the erection of galleries. 

Day after day, week after week, and month after month, 
memorials came up from the people, were presented to the 
House, and called forth discussion. Mr. Benton says, in his 
" Thirty Years' View," " Every morning for three months the 
presentation of these memorials, with speeches to enforce them, 
was the occupation of each House," and he quotes from many 
of the speeches made on the occasion. The memorials, he says, 
were " lugubrious," and, he might have added, represented a 
very distressed state of the country, especially its financial, 
commercial, and industrial affairs. 

In delivering a very inflammatory speech on this subject, in 
reply to those who depicted the sad condition of trade, com- 
merce, credit, and the finances of the country, Mr. Beardsley, 
from Utica, New York, exclaimed, in thundering tones, " Perish 
credit ! perish commerce ! perish trade ! rather than the country 
shall be ruled by this moneyed monster !" 

He was from this time familiarly known as " Perish-Credit 
Beardsley." 

Mr. Beardsley, however, in the above only reiterated the 
sentiment of the President, uttered about the same time, namely, 
that " all who traded on borrowed capital ought to break." 

In addressing the House on the removal of the deposits, 
having occasion to speak of the directors of the bank, Mr. 
Binney characterized them as " men who, from earliest youth 
to their present mature age, have been beloved, respected, and 
honored by all around them, and who are as much the standard 
of all the virtues, private, social, and patriotic, as the coins of 
your mint are the standard of your currency." In thus de- 
scribing these men, Mr. Binney described himself, every word 
of his high encomium being as applicable to him as to any one 
of the Board of whom he truthfully spoke. 

No man in either branch of Congress was more profoundly 
respected, or deserved to be. He was no politician, in the 
ordinary sense of the term ; he was no partisan. He discussed 



HORACE BINNEY. 



267 



all public questions as a statesman anxious only for the good 
of the country. In closing one of his model speeches in the 
House, he declared — and in doing so every one could bear 
testimony to the truth of his declaration — " that he had not, 
consciously, uttered a sentiment in the spirit of mere party 
politics ; and he invoked the same spirit from others. The 
great interests of the country, and the discussion of them," he 
said, "should be above the influence of mere party. The ques- 
tion of the bank is one of public faith ; that of the currency, 
one of national prosperity; that of the constitutional control of 
the treasury, one of national existence. It is impossible that 
such momentous interests shall be tried and determined by 
those rules and standards which, in things indifferent in them- 
selves, parties usually resort to." 

There was no occasion for his disclaiming the conscious utter- 
ance of a sentiment in the spirit of mere party politics : it was 
not his wont to do so at any time ; his remarks were ever 
characterized by an elevation of tone and a propriety and dig- 
nity of manner admired by all, but followed by few. 

Alluding to the depressed condition of business, the alarm 
and anxiety everywhere prevailing, Mr. Binney said, "If any 
man is so blind to the realities around him as to consider this 
but as a theatrical exhibition, got up by the bank, or the friends 
of the bank, to terrify and deceive the nation, he will still be 
blind to them, until the catastrophe of the great drama shall 
make his faculties as useless for the correction of the evil as 
they now seem to be for its apprehension." 

Mr. Binney served but a single term in Congress, positively 
refusing a re-election. He felt out of place in the House of 
Representatives. Acting, as he always did, under a high sense 
of obligation to perform faithfully all the duties devolving upon 
him in whatever public station he had been placed by his fellow- 
citizens, he was exceedingly annoyed and disgusted at the fre- 
quent absence from the House of members when important 
votes were to be taken, and at the indifference shown by such 
derelict members when remonstrated with. As an example : 
Robert Letcher, of Kentucky, contested in the House the seat 
of Thomas P. Moore. The contest was a severe one, and occu- 



268 PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 

pied the House for a long time. Mr. Binney had charge of the 
case as one of the committee on elections, and, in a masterly- 
argument, endeavored to show that Mr. Letcher was entitled to 
the seat. He labored in the investigation and argument of the 
case as he would in an important cause in court. He felt con- 
fident that the claimant would obtain, as he thought he ought 
to obtain, his seat. The vote was taken, and Mr. Letcher came 
within three votes of obtaining his seat; at the same time some 
five or six members were absent who would have voted with 
Mr. Binney had they been present, some of them having spoken 
in favor of Mr. Letcher's claim. Happening to be at Washing- 
ton at this time, and having a conversation with Mr. Binney, I 
found he was deeply chagrined at the result, which sent Mr. 
Letcher back for a new contest before the people, when it would 
have been otherwise had the absent members duly appreciated 
the obligation resting upon them to attend to and perform their 
duties. 

Mr. Binney would have been an ornament to the Senate, as 
would his most cherished friend, John Sergeant ; but Pennsyl- 
vania never honored herself by sending either to that body. 

THE president's PROTEST. 

Soon after the passage of Mr. Clay's resolution censuring 
the President in regard to the removal of the deposits, the 
President sent to the Senate his protest against the action of 
that body in the premises. It was no sooner read in the Senate 
than it created vehement excitement. It Avas denounced as. a 
breach of privilege, as an indignity to the Senate, and as unfit 
to be received. 

Mr. Benton took the occasion to give notice of his intention 
to move to expunge Mr. Clay's resolution from the journal, and 
to renew the motion from time to time till it should prevail, or 
so long as he should be a member of the Senate. These mat- 
ters tended to increase the bitterness of the feeling between the 
friends and the opponents of the President, which was already 
in a highly feverish and irritable condition. 

The debates which this protest elicited in the Senate were 
of a more than ordinarily vehement and acrimonious character, 



THE PRESIDENT'S PROTEST. 



269 



and at the same time the pubHc press teemed with articles 
partaking of the same spirit. The President was exceedingly 
wroth at the refusal of the Senate to receive and enter his 
protest on its journal ; and the vigorous denunciations poured 
upon him by his opponents in that body still further chafed 
and irritated him. Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster, Mr. Calhoun, Mr. 
Ewing, Mr. Clayton, and other Senators spoke of the protest, 
and of the haughty arrogance which prompted such a paper, 
in the most indignant terms. He was, of course, ably defended 
by his friends, Mr. Benton, Mr. Wright, Mr. Grundy, and the 
trenchant " Globe." 

The conflict arising out of the protest partook more of a 
personal character than usual ; it was, in fact, a war between 
the President and the Senate, — a war a r on trance. No quarter 
was given, none asked or expected. Each party considered 
the other as the aggressor, and as guilty of unwarrantable inter- 
ference and unjustifiable accusation. .There could be little 
moderation on either side under such circumstances. The 
Senate declared the protest a breach of the privileges of that 
body, — that the President had no right to send a protest to the 
Senate, — and refused to receive it. 

Mr. Calhoun addressed the Senate on the 5th of May against 
the reception of the protest, with more than his usual earnest- 
ness, and power. In opening, he said, " that in order to have a 
clear conception of the nature of the controversy in which the 
Senate finds itself involved with the President, it will be neces- 
sary to pass in review the events of the last few months which 
have led to it. 

" Their history may be very briefly given. It is well known 
to all that the act incorporating the Bank of the United States 
made that institution the fiscal agent of the government, and 
that, among other provisions, it directed that the public money 
should be deposited in its vaults. The same act vested the 
Secretary of the Treasury with the power of withholding the 
deposits, and, in the event of withholding them, required him to 
report his reasons to Congress. The late Secretary, on the 
interference of the President, refused to withhold the deposits, 
on the ground that satisfactory reasons could not be assigned for 



270 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

the act; for which the President removed him, and appointed 
the present incumbent in his place, expressly with a view that 
he should perform the act his predecessor had refused to do. 
He accordingly removed the deposits, and reported his reasons 
to Congress, and the whole transaction was thus brought up for 
our approval or disapproval. . . . We could not hesitate. The 
subject was accordingly taken up, and after months of delibera- 
tion, in which the whole transaction was fully investigated and 
considered, and after the opinions of all sides, the friends as well 
as the opponents of the administration, were fully expressed, 
the Senate passed a resolution disapproving of the reasons of 
the Secretary, who was but the agent of the President in the 
transaction. ... 

" It is impossible for the most careless observer to read this 
paper without being struck with the extreme solicitude which 
the President evinces to place himself in a position between the 
Senate and the people. He tells us again and again, with the 
greatest emphasis, that he is the immediate representative of the 
American people. He tlie immediate representative of the Ameri- 
can people! . . . WJiat effrontery ! Wliat boldness of assertion ! 
The immediate representative ! Why, he never received a vote 
frojn the American people. He was elected by electors, elected 
either by the people of the States or by their Legislatures ; and 
of course is at least as far removed from the people as the 
members of this body. . . . 

" But why all this solicitude on the part of the President to 
place himself near to the people, and to push us off to the 
greatest distance? Why this solicitude to make himself their 
sole representative, their only guardian and protector, their only 
friend and supporter? The object cannot be mistaken. It is 
preparatory to further hostilities, — to an appeal to the people ; 
and is intended to prepare the way in order to transmit to them 
his declaration of war against the Senate, with a view tQ enlist 
them as his allies in the war which he contemplates waging 
against this branch of the government. . . . 

" Having secured this important position, as he supposed, he 
next endeavors to excite the sympathy of the people, whom he 
seeks to make his allies in the contest. He tells them of his 



THE PRESIDENT'S PROTEST. 271 

wounds, — wounds received in the war of the Revolution ; of his 
patriotism; of his disinterestedness; of his freedom from avarice 
or ambition; of his advanced age; and, finally, of his religion; 
of his indifference to the affairs of this life, and of his solicitude 
about that which is to come. Can we mistake the object ? 
Who does not see what was intended? . . . Wo. ^xst seized upon 
the public money, took it from the custody of the lazv, and placed 
it in his oiun possession, as much so as if placed in his on'n 
pocket. The Senate disapproves of the act, and opposes the 
only obstacle that prevents him from becoming completely 
master of the public treasury. To crush the resistance which 
they interpose to his will, he seeks a quarrel with them, and, with 
that view, seizes on the resolution iji question as the pretext. He 
sends us a protest against it, in which he resorts to every art to 
enlist the feelings of the people on his side, preparatory to a 
direct appeal to them, with the view to engage them as allies in 
the war which he intends to carry on against the Senate till 
they submit to his authority. 

" I am mortified (said Mr. C.) that in this countr}% boasting 
of its Anglo-Saxon descent, any one of respectable standing, 
much less the President of the United States, should be found 
to entertain principles leading to such monstrous results; and I can 
scarcely believe myself to be breathing the air of our countn,% 
and to be within the walls of the Senate-chamber, when I hear 
such doctrines vindicated. It is ^xooi o{\\\Q.zvonderful degeneracy 
of the times, — of a total loss of the true conception of constitutional 
liberty. But in the midst of this degeneracy I perceive the symp- 
toms of regeneration. It is not my wish to touch on the party 
designations that have recently obtained, and which have been 
introduced in the debate on this occasion. I, however, cannot 
but remark tJiat the revival of the party names of the Revolution, 
after they had so long slumbered, is not zvithout a meaning, — not 
without an indication of a return to those principles which lie 
at the foundation of our liberty. 

******** 

" Gentlemen ougJitto reflect that the extensive and sudden re- 
vival of tliese 7iames''cov\A not be without some adequate cause. 



2/2 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



Names are not to be taken or given at pleasure ; there uiust be 
soinet/iing to cause their application to adhere. If I remember 
rightly, it was Augustus, in all the plenitude of his power, who 
said that he found it impossible to introduce a new word. 
What, then, is that something ? What is there in the meaning 
of Whig and Tory, and^ what in the character of the times, 
which has caused their sudden revival, as party designations, at 
this time? I take it that the very essence of Toryism — that 
which constitutes a Tory — is to sustain prerogative against 
privilege, — to support the executive against the legislative de- 
partment of the government, and to lean to the side of power 
against the side of liberty ; while the Whig is in all these par- 
ticulars of the very opposite principles. These are the leading 
characteristics of the respective parties, Whig and Tory, and run 
through their application in all the variety of circumstances in 
which they have been applied, either in this country or Great 
Bntain. Their sudden revival and application at this time ought 
to admonish my old friends who are now on the side of the ad- 
ministration that there is something in the times, something 
in the existing struggle between the parties, and in the princi- 
ples and doctrines advocated by those in power, which has caused 
so sudden a revival and such extensive application of the terms." 

This speech sounded like a tocsin, and produced great 
sensation at the South, which was now stirred with unusual 
excitement. 

But, though the lion roared in the White House at these 
fierce assaults upon him, and the clamor of the whole country, 
he was as far from yielding to them as the rock of Gibraltar to 
the waves constantly dashing against it. 

Judge Bibb, a Senator from Kentucky, an original Jackson 

man, spoke forcibly against the protest and the assumption of 

powers by the President. " I feel no pleasure," he said, " in 

resisting this protest. I gave to General Jackson a zealous, 

• and early, and continued support against fearful odds in the 

circle in which I moved. . . . But I am not content, as a 

tribute of gratitude to his military services, that he shall be 

master over the Constitution and liberties of his country. 
******** 



THE PRESIDENT'S PROTEST. 



73 



"And what have we come to in these days? A single person, 
intrusted with the execution of the laws, with the command 
of the army and the navy, has laid claim to the custody and 
management of the public revenue and the public property. 
He now manages the public treasury, which is continually re- 
plenishing under a permanent enactment of taxes, by a system 
of his own ; by the power of his veto, the voice of two-thirds 
of each House of Congress is necessary to repeal the taxes or 
take the custody and management out of his hands, or to 
enact any system against his will. 

" The great interests of the country have been deeply af- 
fected, disordered, and broken in upon by the mere act of the 
Executive. The multitudes of sufferers, writhing under the 
torture thus inflicted, attest this representation by their memo- 
rials day after day presented to Congress. And yet I sec no 
remedy. The withering influence of the Executive power is 
still exerted." 

A large portion of the Senators participated in this very 
heated debate. Mr. Wright, Colonel Benton, Mr. Forsyth, Mr. 
Grundy, and others defended the President, while on the other 
side, besides those named, were Mr. Ewing, Mr. Chambers, 
William C. Preston, Mr. Southard, Mr. Frelinghuysen, and Mr. 
Poindexter. 

The debate lasted for many months, and called out the ablest 
men in the Senate. And such a Senate! Every man of them, 
I believe, has passed away; but I instinctively, and with pro- 
found respect, bow to their shades, as they rise and stand 
before me. 

Though in the paper read by General Jackson to his cabinet 
he assumed the whole responsibility of removing the deposits, 
in his message to Congress, dated 3d of December following, 
he said, — 

"Since the last adjournment of Congress, the Secretary 
of the Treasury has directed the money of the United States 
to be deposited in certain State banks designated by him, 
and he will immediately lay before you his reasons for this 
direction." 

18 



74 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



AN EPISODE. A FIGURE-HEAD SAWED OFF. A GREAT COMMOTION 

FROM A SMALL CAUSE. 

In the excess of his loyalty and devotion to General Jackson, 
Commodore Elliott, in command of the navy- yard at Charles- 
town, had had a figure-head — an image, or bust, of Jackson — 
made and placed on the frigate Constitution, then lying at that 
navy-yard. 

In the then state of feeling, this called forth great public 
indignation : it was considered an act of extreme flattery and 
homage, and a desecration of the noble "Old Ironsides." Great 
was the outcry against it ; but those whom it offended had no 
redress, as the commodore could disregard or set at defiance 
the denunciations heaped upon him. 

But one rainy morning the offensive figure-head was gone, 
or rather the head had been removed, leaving a headless bust. 
Great was the commotion at the navy-yard and on shipboard 
upon this discovery ; great, also, were the excitement and re- 
joicing in Boston on the occasion. The commodore was terribly 
exercised, and his wrath was fearful, though he knew not upon 
whom to expend it. A strict scrutiny was instituted : every- 
body was examined, but no clue to the perpetrator, or to the 
means by which the deed had been done, could be obtained. 
A reward of a thousand dollars for the culprit who had cut 
off the head of Jackson was offered ; but in vain : neither the 
criminal, nor any information concerning him, or how he did 
it, could be got. The news soon spread over the whole 
country, and had the living Jackson's head been cut off it 
could hardly have caused a greater sensation. 

Who did it ? and how was it done ? It was done by a young 
man named Samuel H. Dewey, an eccentric, resolute, deter- 
mined fellow, somewhat of a sailor, who resolved that " Old 
Ironsides" should not bear the obloquy of carrying such a 
fieure-head. I had from himself a relation of the circumstances 
of the accomplishment of the feat. 

Having determined, if possible, to relieve the ship of her 
burden, he cogitated a good deal as to how it could be done. 
The ship lay between two seventy-fours. The only way to 



A FIGURE-HEAD SAWED OFF. 275 

reach her was by water. He looked around and found where 
a small boat was kept that would answer his purpose and was 
at hand ; and then he waited for a favorable night, that is, a 
dark, rainy one. Taking advantage of such a one, he got into 
the boat late at night, paddled noiselessly alongside of the 
Constitution or under her bow, fastened his boat, clambered, 
by some means not now recollected, up her side, listened for 
the footstep of the sentinel as he walked fore and aft, kept still 
and out of sight when the sentinel approached, but crept along 
upon his retreat, until, finally, he got under the figure-head, 
where, lying upon his back, he went to work with the saw he 
had brought with him, first boring a hole through the head 
with an auger he had brought for the purpose, passing a rope 
through it and making it fast above. The rain poured in 
torrents, thus favoring him by drowning the noise of his saw. 
His progress was necessarily slow, and he was several hours 
in accomplishing what he had undertaken ; but near daybreak 
he had severed the head, and, securing it from falling into the 
water, twenty-five feet below, let himself down into his boat 
by the rope by which he had let the head down, rowed himself 
silently away, landed, fastened the boat where he found it, 
took the head, in a large pocket-handkerchief, in his hand, 
and went his way to his boarding-house, meeting several early 
risers on that rainy Sunday morning in the streets. 

Thus it was accomplished. Some laughed, some swore, 
some rejoiced, some were indignant; but for weeks, perhaps 
months, no one could guess who did it, or how it was done. 
It was a mystery. 

Some months after, young Dewey, with his famous trophy, 
appeared in New York, being apprehensive of arrest at Boston, 
made himself known, and became quite a lion, being frequently 
entertained at supper-parties, where he greatly amused the 
guests by relating, as he did, in a quaint, graphic manner, 
his adventures and hair-breadth 'scapes. From New York 
he came to Philadelphia, where he was also feted and had a 
jolly good time of it. He then went to Baltimore, and finally 
to Washington, calling on the Secretary of the Navy and 
relating to him all the circumstances of the transaction, and 



2/6 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



drawing from the grave Secretary a hearty laugh instead of a 
stern rebuke. 

CHANGES IN THE CABINET. 

Meantime, changes had taken place in the cabinet. The 
nomination of Mr. Taney as Secretary of the Treasury was 
withheld until it had become a subject of just complaint that 
the Secretary was the officer of the President, and not of the 
constitutional appointing power. But it was finally sent to the 
Senate and rejected, to the surprise of no one. Mr. Wood- 
bury was then appointed Secretary of the Treasury; Mr. 
Mahlon Dickerson, of the Navy, in the place of Mr. Wood- 
bury; and William Wilkins, Senator from Pennsylvania, min- 
ister to Russia. Mr. McLane resigned the office of Secretary 
of State, which was filled by Mr. Forsyth, of Georgia, and 
Mr. Butler, of New York, was made Attorney-General. From 
this time Mr. McLane disappeared from the arena of politics. 
He had for eight or nine years been among the friends of 
Jackson, but not of them ; that is to say, he did not approve of 
all of Jackson's measures, — of the removal of the deposits, the 
war upon the bank, the proscription of Federal officers, or 
what was called " reform," " rotation in office," etc. 

"the PET BANKS." 

When the public deposits were removed from the United 
States Bank, they were placed in certain favored or selected 
State banks, which were thence denominated " Pet Banks." 

In order to relieve the stringency of the money market con- 
sequent upon the disturbance of the currency by the removal 
of the deposits, these banks were directed by the Secretary of 
the Treasury to extend facilities to merchants and others by 
liberal loans. Desirous to increase their profits, they scarcely 
needed this suggestion, and they now discounted freely : con- 
sequently money became more plenty, or easy to be obtained. 
Besides this increase in the circulating medium of the country, 
a large number of new banks were chartered, almost every 
State granting new charters, avowedly to fill the gap likely to 
be created by the going out of existence of the United States 



GOLD CURRENCY. 2/7 

Bank. Of course these new institutions were desirous of doing 
a fair share of business, and therefore discounted Hberally. But, 
though money began to be plenty, the currency was in a bad 
condition ; little silver, and no gold, was seen; small bills, or 
" shinplasters," as they were called, took the place of silver 
change ; the bills of the banks of one State were at a large dis- 
count in an adjoining State, and at a still greater as the distance 
from home increased. The uniform currency furnished by the 
United States Bank, and by its controlling power over the State 
banks, was gone, and " the better currency" that had been 
promised by the Jackson presses proved to be but a miserable 
substitute. 

GOLD CURRENCY. 

It was evident to sagacious, observing men that this "pet 
bank" system, or " experiment," would prove a failure ; and 
during the summer of 1834, Colonel Benton and others began 
to talk of an exclusive metallic or gold currency. The "Globe" 
took the hint, and expatiated on the grand idea of " a constitu- 
tional" or metallic currency, A bill which favored this idea 
was introduced in the House, and became a law, equalizing the 
value of gold and silver. Another bill brought forward as an 
accompaniment to that, namely, legalizing the tender of foreign 
coins of gold and silver, also became a law, after much debate 
in both branches of Congress. But though the " Globe" and 
its " affiliated presses" were daily singing pagans to the " gold 
currency," which it emblazoned in big capitals from day to day, 
and set forth the manifold virtues of this "Jackson money," 
still, the people saw little of it. 

Expatiating on the glorious times thp people were to enjoy 
from an abundance of gold, the " Globe" broke forth in the 
following ecstatic strain of prophecy : 

"A great stream of GOLD will flow up the Mississippi from 
New Orleans and diffuse itself all over, the great West. Nearly 
all the GOLD COINAGE of the New World will come to the 
United States. This will fill the West with doubloons and half- 
joes, and in eight or nine months from this time [July 16, 1834] 
every substantial citizen will have a long silken purse of fine, 
open net-work, through the interstices of which the YELLOW 



278 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



GOLD will shine and glisten. Every substantial man, ancf 
every substantial man's wife and daughter, will travel upon 
GOLD. The satellites of the bank alone, to show their 
fidelity to their liege monarch, will repine at the loss of 
paper." 

In another issue the editor said, " There is no longer a plea 
for Federal bank-notes ; GOLD is a good enough currency for 
the republicans of the United States." And again, " Already 
GOLD is glittering in the pockets and glittering in the hands 
of the people." 

Some pieces of the new gold coinage, eagles and half-eagles, 
having made their appearance, they were exultingly hailed by 
the " Globe," which availed itself of the occasion to invoke 
the gratitude and support of the people, thus : 

"Jackson Money — the Benton Yellow Jackets. — All 
laboring men and farmers who get it [gold] in actual payment 
for their labor or products may sleep soundly on their pillows, 
without fear of banks breaking. And will they not sustain 
the statesman who gives gold to his country and lead to her 
enemies ?" And much more of this sort. 

After the passage of the acts above mentioned, gold came 
rapidly into the country from Europe, and the mint was kept 
actively employed coining the " Benton Mint-Drops," or " Jack- 
son Yellow Boys." At the same time, great pains were taken 
to get the gold into circulation : still, very little of it shone 
"through the interstices of the farmers' silken purses." 

" The instinctive feelings of the masses," says Mr. Benton, 
"told them that money which would jingle in the pocket was 
the right money for them, — that hard money was the right 
money for hard hands. Upon these instinctive feelings gold 
became the avidious demand of the vast operative and pro- 
ducing classes." 

the death of five distinguished men. 

Five eminent men identified with American affairs passed 
away during this period : namely, Charles Carroll, of Carroll- 
ton, the last of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, 
November 14, 1832; John Randolph, in the summer of 1833; 



THE MUSE OF HISTORY. 



279 



William Wirt, on the i8th of February, 1834, Lafayette, on the 
20th of May, and Wni. 11. Crawford, in September, 1834. 

The death of these notable men was the occasion of many 
eulogies in various parts of the country, the most marked for 
ability being those by John Quincy Adams, delivered at the 
request of the House of Representatives in its hall; by Edward 
Everett, in Boston, and by the venerable Peter S. Duponceau, 
in Philadelphia, a youthful companion of Lafayette, the patri- 
archal Bishop White, one of the chaplains- of the Congress of 
1776, being present. 

THE MUSE OF HISTORY RECORDING THE DOINGS OF THE HOUSE 

OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

Over the entrance to the old hall of the House of Repre- 
sentatives is a beautiful model of a clock and a statue of the 
Muse of History, symbolic of the passage of time and the 
recording of the doings of the House as history. The Muse 
of History is represented in a car, with her pen and tablet in 
hand, looking down upon the actors below and recording their 
acts. The wheel of the car forms the dial of the clock, and its 
hands note the passage of time. The whole design is classic, 
chaste, and beautiful. 

A resolution having been offered by Mr. Everett, that the 
House should order a certain number of copies of the first 
three volumes of Gales and Seaton's " Register of Debates," 
the same order to be extended to the volumes to be thereafter 
published, Mr. Polk opposed the resolution, and Mr. Adams 
advocated its passage, as the work was important as an aid to 
the history of the country. Much of tlie national history must 
of course depend on what passed in that House. 

"What is the meaning, Mr. Speaker," said Mr. Adams, "of 
that beautiful marble statue over your clock at the entrance of 
this hall? Sir, it is the Muse of History in her car, looking 
down upon the members of this House, and reminding them 
that as the hour passes she is in the attitude of recording 
whatever they say or do upon this floor, — an admonition 
well worthy of being remembered. The reporters at the sides 
and in the rear of your chair are the scribes of that IMuse of 



2 8o PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

History; and this publication, for which the resolution before 
you proposes a subscription, is the real, I might say the living, 
record of that historic Muse. The publication is well known 
to be the best and most accurate report existing of the debates 
in Congress, and so long as it shall be continued, and especially 
so well executed as it has been hitherto, I most earnestly hope 
that the subscription for the volumes, as they succeed each 
other, will not be refused." 

The resolution, after much opposition and being amended, 
was passed. 

Posterity thanks those to whom we are indebted for Gales 
and Seaton's admirable and valuable " Debates," 

UNFRIENDLY RELATIONS WITH FRANCE. 

From the date of the treaty by which we acquired Louisiana, 
down to the abdication of Napoleon I., France had continued 
to commit unprovoked aggressions upon our commerce and to 
make unwarranted seizures of our vessels and cargoes. For 
these a large amount of claims had accumulated, and, though 
France had been urged to settle these claims, no treaty could 
be obtained engaging her to do so until the 4th of July, 1821, 
when she stipulated to pay the United States nearly five mil- 
lions of dollars in full satisfaction for these depredations. 

But up to the meeting of Congress, December, 1834, the 
French Chambers had unwarrantably neglected to make pro- 
vision for the payment of the sum due us. The President, in 
his annual message at that time, brought the subject in an em- 
phatic manner to the notice of Congress and the nation, and 
went so far as to recommend the passage of a law authorizing 
reprisals to be made upon French property in case provision 
should not be made for the payment of the debt at the ap- 
proaching session of the French Chambers. 

This recommendation, and the well-known disposition of 
the President to resort to coercive measures, created a lively 
sensation in diplomatic circles, in Congress, and the country at 
large. The tone of his message was generally approved by the 
people, who had not forgotten the unprovoked aggressions on 
our commerce for a long series of years, against which we had 



ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF THE PRESIDENT. 28 1 

again and again remonstrated, and for which we had been, 
as yet, unable to obtain redress. Rut, in truth, the American 
people, like the English, admire pluck, and are not slow to 
back their government in demanding their rights and com- 
pelling other nations to respect them, as in "the Alabama 
claims" on England. 

In consequence of the attitude assumed by the President, 
apprehensions were entertained among mercantile and com- 
mercial men of a rupture between the two nations, which would 
seriously affect their interests. In this state of affairs, Mr. Clay, 
as chairman of the committee on foreign relations, took up 
the subject, it having been referred to that committee, and in 
due time made an elaborate report upon the relations existing 
between the United States and France, reviewing them in all 
their bearings, and closing with recommending the adoption of 
a resolution, " That it is inexpedient, at this time, to pass any 
law vesting in the President authority for making reprisals 
upon French property in the contingency of provision not 
being made for paying to the United States the indemnity 
stipulated by the treaty of 1831 during the present session of 
the French Chambers." 

The sense entertained by the Senate of the importance of 
this report is manifested by the order of that body to print 
twenty thousand copies. Mr. Clay proposed five thousand. 

Mr. Calhoun said he had heard the report read with the 
greatest pleasure. It contained the whole grounds which ought 
to be laid before the people. He should vote for the largest 
number. The resolution was unanimously adopted. 

ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF THE PRESIDENT. 

A great commotion was created in the rotunda of the Capitol 
on the 30th of January, 1835, and had the result been the ac- 
complishment of the apparent purpose, the day would have 
been signalized by a catastrophe of horror similar to that which 
enshrouded the city in gloom in the spring of 1865. 

The funeral of Warren R. Davis, a member of Congress from 
South Carolina, had been attended in the hall of the House of 
Representatives by the President and his cabinet, who were 



^ 



282 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

now passing through the rotunda — were near the eastern door 
— to enter carriages to accompany the corpse to the burying- 
ground, when a person stepped from the crowd in front of the 
President and snapped a pistol at him, the percussion-cap of 
which exploded without igniting the powder. The would-be 
assassin was struck by some one near the President, but 
snapped a second pistol at him, the cap also exploding without 
igniting the charge. 

The person attempting the life of the President was then 
seized and taken before Chief-Justice Cranch, and gave his 
name as Richard Lawrence. The pistols he had used were, 
upon examination, found to be well loaded. It appeared won- 
derful that the design had been baffled by the non-ignition, 
in both attempts, of the charge of the pistol by the cap, but 
most fortunate was it that the terrible catastrophe was pre- 
vented. 

It turned out, however, that Lawrence was an Englishman 
and was insane. 

EXECUTIVE PATRONAGE. 

Early in the second session of the Twenty-third Congress, 
6th of January, 1835, Mr, Calhoun introduced a resolution into 
the Senate, " That a select committee be appointed to inquire 
.into the extent of Executive patronage, the causes of its great 
increase, and the expediency and practicability of its reduction," 
etc. As chairman of the committee, he made a long report on 
the 9th of February, which became the subject of a protracted 
and, at times, very sharp and spicy debate, especially between 
himself and Mr. Benton. 

In opening the debate, Mr. Calhoun referred to the fact that 
this subject was introduced into the Senate eight years before, 
on the report of a select committee raised by the party then in 
opposition, who had pledged themselves, should they be ele- 
vated to power, to administer the government on the principles 
laid down in the report. The chairman of that committee was 
Mr. Benton, a member of the present committee. Mr. Calhoun 
quoted from Mr. Benton's report: "The President of the United 
States is the source of patronage. He presides over the entire 
system of Federal a^Dpointments, jobs, and contracts. He has 



EXECUTIVE PATRONAGE. 



283 



power over the support of the individuals who administer the 
system. He makes and unmakes them, and may dismiss them 
as often as they disappoint his expectations. The principle 
will [in a short period] come to be open and avowed, — the 
President wants my vote, and I want his patronage ; I will vote 
as he wishes, and he will give me the office I wish for." 

That period, which Mr. Benton saw " in his mind's eye," 
soon came, — came with the advent of Jackson, when Mr, 
Marcy proclaimed that " to the victors belong the spoils of 
office," — a doctrine which has ever since been acted on by all 
parties. 

Mr. Benton, in this report, spoke of "the kingly prerogative 
of dismissing officers without the formality of a trial" having 
been yielded to the President, by which he " could create as 
many vacancies as he pleased, and at any moment he thought 
proper." 

After quoting freely from this celebrated paper, Mr. Calhoun 
said, " It is impossible to read this report, which announces 
in such unqualified terms the excess and the abuse of patronage 
at that time [1826], without being struck with the deplorable 
change which a few short years have wrought in the character 
of our country. 

. . . "We have grown insensible, callous," he said: "this 
power of removal was in the early years of our government 
almost unknown. It continued unknown till Mr. Jefferson's ' 
time. It had not been exercised at all by one of his prede- 
cessors, — Mr. Adams. 

******** 

" The practice of the administration [General Jackson's] of 
dismissing faithful officers on party grounds, and supplying 
their places with political partisans, has a tendency to produce 
all the results which I have attributed to it, and must ultimately 
convert the whole body of office-holders into corrupt syco- 
phants and supple instruments of power. In making this as- 
sertion I have his [Mr. Benton's] own authority." 

Mr. Benton replied, taking exception to the expression " cor- 
rupt and supple instruments of power," and to his being identi- 
fied in some way with these : he declared it " a bold attack on 



284 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

truth ;" thundering out the charge in the most vehement and 
angry manner. 

This produced an exciting scene in the Senate. Mr. Benton 
was called to order, but the chair (Mr. Van Buren) decided 
that the words were not a breach of order. Upon this Mr. 
Webster appealed from the decision of the chair, and a debate 
on the question of order followed, which resulted in a reversal 
of the decision by the Senate. Mr. Benton was then permitted 
to proceed in order. His purpose, and the drift of his remarks, 
were to defend the administration from the charge of ex- 
travagance, — increasing (doubling) the public expenses over 
those of Mr. Adams's administration, which had been so loudly 
proclaimed " wasteful" and " extravagant" by himself, and to 
throw the responsibility for all expenditures under Jackson's 
administration on Congress. 

Mr. Calhoun, in reply, reviewed with much causticity Mr, 
Benton's positions and palliations, and insisted that, as the 
administration had at all times, down to a very late period, a 
majority in both branches of Congress, it was responsible for 
all the appropriations and expenditures that had been made, 
especially as the President had freely exercised the veto 
power to prevent the passage of bills. It was not to be tole- 
rated that those who expelled a former administration upon its 
alleged extravagance should now, when the administration thus 
brought into power proves to be doubly so, lay the blame on 
Congress, instead of taking it themselves. He would ask the 
Senator whether, when he drew up his report in 1826 and de- 
nounced the then administration in such severe and unqualified 
terms for their " extravagance',' every item of expenditure at 
that time had not been authorized by Congress. He and those 
who are now in power have reaped the fruit by holding others 
responsible; so it is just that they should, in turn, be held 
responsible. 

Mr. Calhoun proceeded to show that the administration had 
not made anything but party fealty a party question. A man 
might vote for or against internal improvement, for or against 
a tariff, for or against this or that expenditure, for or against 
a bank, without forfeiting his party character, provided always 



EXECUTIVE PATRONAGE. 28" 

that he was a good Jackson man, submitted to party discipline, 
and sustained the party candidates for office. He said, " Gen- 
eral Jackson bestowed the highest gift in his power on a Sen- 
ator [Mr. Forsyth] who had openly, on this floor, in the very 
heat of the controversy, avowed himself a bank man, while 
other Senators who were openly opposed to the institution 
were denounced ; thus furnishing a most striking illustration 
of the truth of what he had asserted, that tlic only cohesive prin- 
ciple which binds together the powerful party rallied under the 
name of General Jackson is official patronage. Their object is 
to get and hold office; and their leading political maxim, 
openly avowed on this floor by one of the former Senators 
from New York [Mr. Marcy], is, that ' to the victors belong 
the spoils of office ;' a sentiment reiterated at this session by 
an influential member of the House, who declares every man 
a hypocrite who does not avow it ! Can any one ventm-e to 
say that our government is not undergoing a great and fatal 
cha7ige ? The very essence of a free government consists 
IN considering offices as public trusts, to be bestowed for 

THE GOOD of THE COUNTRY, AND NOT FOR THE BENEFIT OF AN 
individual OR A PARTY; AND THAT SYSTEM OF POLITICAL MORALS 
WHICH REGARDS OFFICES TO BE USED AND ENJOYED AS THEIR 
PROPER SPOILS, STRIKES A FATAL BLOW AT THE VERY VITALS OF 
FREE INSTITUTIONS." 

Mr. Calhoun had accompanied his report by a bill, which 
was the subject of discussion, one section of which limited the 
power of the Executive in removals from office, and required 
him to give an account of his acts, and the reasons for those 
acts, to the Senate ; a provision somewhat similar to the tenure- 
of-office bill passed by Congress during Andrew Johnson's ad- 
ministration, which became a law, his veto of it notwithstanding, 
and which was emasculated, or virtually repealed, by Congress 
at the opening of General Grant's administration. 

Mr. Ewing, taking part in the debate, declared his most 
hearty approval of this provision of the bill : the first measure 
he had the honor to propose in the Senate, he said, was of this 
import, though it went further. 

He laid down the proposition, and entered upon an argu- 



286 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

ment to prove, that the Constitution does not vest iri the Presi- 
dent alone the power of permanently removing any officer who 
is appointed by the President by and with the advice and con- 
sent of the Senate. 

Mr. Webster lamented that " the extent of the patronage 
springing from the power of appointment and removal of offi- 
cers had already reached an alarming height. The principle 
of republican government is public virtue ; and whatever tends 
to corrupt, debase, or weaken its force tends in the same degree 
to overthrow such government. The presumption that men in 
the performance of their political duties will be guided and 
influenced generally by an honest, intelligent judgment, and 
manly independence, lies at the foundation of all hope of main- 
taining a popular government. Personal, individual, or selfish 
motives influencing men on public questions affect the safety 
of the whole system. . . . 

" The unlimited power to grant office and to take it away 
gives command over the hopes and fears of vast multitudes of 
men. It is generally true that Jic zvho controls anotlicr man's 
means of living controls his zvill. Where there are favors to be 
granted, there are usually enough to solicit them ; and when 
favors, once granted, may be withdrawn at pleasure, there is, 
ordinarily, little security for personal independence of character. 
The consequence of this greed and rush and competition for 
offices is obvious, — complaisance, indiscriminate support of Ex- 
ecutive measures, pliafit subserviency, and gross adulation. All 
throng and rush together to the altar of man-ivorship, and offer 
sacrifices and pour out libations, till the thick fumes of their 
incense turn their own heads, and the head of him who is the 
object of their idolatry." 

In regard to the constitutional question involved, Mr. Web- 
ster expressed the opinion that the power of appointment 
naturally and necessarily includes the power of removal, where 
no limitation is expressed nor any tenure but that at will is 
declared. The power of appointment being conferred on the 
President and Senate, he thought the power of removal went 
with it, and should have been regarded as a part of it. He 
thought, consequently, that the decision of 1789 was erroneous. 



A PLEASANT INTERPELLATION. 



287 



But this decision, having been so long acquiesced in as the 
settled construction of the Constitution, should be acted on 
accordingly. But he thought the legislature possesses the 
power to regulate the condition, duration, qualifications, and 
tenure of office, where' the Constitution has made no express 
provision on the subject ; and, further, that the incumbent 
shall remain in place till the President shall remove him for 
reasons to be stated to the Senate. He thought that this quali- 
fication would have some effect in arresting the evils which 
seriously threatened our government. 

A PLEASANT " INTERPELLATION." 

Incidents that broke in upon the grave routine of business 
or heated discussions of the Senate not unfrequently arose 
between Mr. Clay and Mr. Buchanan, sometimes creating much 
mirth, as on the present occasion. 

Mr. Buchanan was zc/^/Z-eyed, or cross-eyed ; heavy, slow, and 
as destitute of humor as an undertaker ; and upon him ]\Ir. 
Clay delighted to play off his wit. 

As Mr. Clay was addressing the Senate on the jDresent occa- 
sion, he referred to, and spoke of, the leaders oi \kiQ. Democratic 
party, at the same time looking at Mr. Wright, between whonl 
and himself sat Mr. Buchanan. 

Mr. Buchanan rose and said, "he was very sorry the Senator 
from Kentucky was so often disposed to pay his respects to 
him." 

Mr. Clay. — "I had no allusion to you \\\\cy\ I spoke of the 
leaders of the administration, but to another honorable Senator," 
pointing to Mr. Wright. 

Mr. Buchanan. — " When the Senator thus spoke he certainly 
looked at me." 

Mr. Clay. — " No, Mr. President, I did not look at him : he was 
not in my mind ; but," holding up and crossing his two fore- 
fingers, his eye twinkling with humor, he said, " it was the way 
he looked at tne ;" thus indicating, in a sportive way, I\Ir. 
Buchanan's defect of vision. 

Mr. Buchanan was nonplussed, could make no reply, and, 
finding the laugh against him, sat down. 



288 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

Mr. Buchanan, though, unlike Falstaff, destitute of wit, yet, 
h'ke the fat knight, was the cause of wit in others, at least in 
■^ Mr. Clay. 

On another occasion, as Mr. Buchanan was defending him- 
self against the charge of disloyalty during the War of 1812, he 
having been "an old Federalist," to prove his loyalty, stated 
that he entered a company of volunteers at the time the British 
attacked Baltimore, or at the time of the battle of North Point, 
and marched to Baltimore. " True," he said, " he was not in 
any engagement, as the British had retreated before he got 
there." 

Mr. Clay. — " You marched to Baltimore, though ?" 

Mr. Buchanan.—" Yes." 

Mr. Clay. — " Armed and equipped ?" 

Mr. Buchanan. — " Yes, armed and equipped." 

Mr. Clay. — "But the British had retreated when you arrived?" 

Mr. Buchanan.—" Yes." 

Mr. Clay. — "Will the Senator from Pennsylvania be good 
enough to inform us whether the British retreated in conse- 
quence of his valiantly marching to the relief of Baltimore, or 
whether he marched to the relief of Baltimore in consequence 
of the British having already retreated ?" 

This colloquy, with its unlooked-for ending, was greatly en- 
joyed by the Senate and galleries, and put both in excellent 
humor. 

Mr. Wright opposed Mr. Calhoun's bill and Mr. Clay's 
amendment, contending that the power of removal from office 
rested solely with the President. 

Mr. White, of Tennessee, said that in 1826, as a member of 
the committee then raised on executive patronage, he came to 
the conclusion that it was dangerous to leave such power in 
the hands of the Executive, and through the chairman [Mr. 
Benton] expressed that opinion to the world. He entertained 
the same opinion now, and was prepared to reaffirm it. He was 
then in opposition to the administration ; he was now a friend 
of the administration. " When we have a pure and virtuous 
chief magistrate" said Mr. White, "he will thank Congress to 
take from him every discretionary power which they can take 



EXECUTIVE PA TR ONA GE. 



289 



with propriety. If ever it should be our misfortune to Jinve one 
of an opposite character, disposed to use all his powers for the 
benefit of himself, his relatives arid friends, and for the purpose of 
perpetuating power iji his and their hands, then society at large 
ought to thank us for stripping the Executive of this influenced 

The bill was finally ordered to be engrossed for a third 
reading, by a vote of 26 to 15, and there it ended. 

Time has by no means lessened the importance of this sub- 
ject, which is at this moment (1872) under discussion by a 
commission, consisting of several eminent gentlemen appointed 
for that purpose by the President, with a view to devise and 
recommend some plan or system by which the great evils that 
have grown up in the civil service of the government may be 
remedied. 

Those who live at the present day cannot but note with what 
prophetic accuracy some of the distinguished statesmen who 
took part in this debate, and the report of Mr. Benton, made 
forty-six years ago, depicted a condition of things which has be- 
come so familiar as to excite no special wonder among trained 
politicians, and is even justified by some whose political morals 
have been formed in the Marcy school, and who would perhaps 
say, as did the member of Congress from New York, quoted by 
Mr. Calhoun, that " he is a hypocrite who does not avow this 
dogma." 

Of the excellency of this school of morals the country has 
lately (1871) had a striking illustration in the exposure of the 
operations of the Tammany politicians in New York. 

But when and from whence arose the evils complained of, — 
this gangrene of the civil service, which, if not arrested, must 
infect with corruption and rottenness the whole foundation of 
our government and render it a by-word of scorn in the mouths 
of all honest men ? 

From the commencement of the government under the 
present Constitution, in 1789, down to the inauguration of 
General Jackson, in 1829, — forty years, — was a period of purity 
and honesty. It was administered with the sole view to the 
public good ; men were appointed to office for their character, 
fitness, and integrity. This " period of political honesty, sim- 

19 



290 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



plicity, and economy began with the supremely patriotic and 
honest administration of Washington," — a model to all others, 
— " and ended with the cheap, simple, honest, and admirable 
administration of John Quincy Adams," — not less pure, patriotic, 
and economical than that of Washington. 

Then came General Jackson, the popular idol, with the vaunt- 
ing cry of "'Retrenchment and Reform^' and the unblushing 
charge against his predecessor that " the patronage of the 
government had been brought in conflict with the freedom 
of elections," — a charge utterly groundless. Then commenced 
that system of " rewarding friends and punishing enemies," 
which has prevailed to a greater or less extent ever since, and 
has been one of the causes of the venality, corruption, and 
political prostitution that so widely prevail in the United States. 
Well might Mr. Calhoun, at one time one of the main pillars of 
the Jackson party, declare that the party was held together by 
"the cohesive power of public plunder." 

It is a pertinent question to ask, Can the existing evils be 
remedied ? Can we go back to the honest, unselfish ways of 
Washington, Madison, and J. Q. Adams? No. We might, 
perhaps, as well hope to go back to the more economical 
modes of living of our fathers and grandfathers. Corruption, 
extravagance, and laxity of morals are the inseparable concom- 
itants of national wealth. If we seek and obtain the one, we 
must expect the others. But a wise, patriotic, firm, unselfish 
Executive can do much to restrain, if he cannot entirely eradi- 
cate, the evils complained of. 

MISMANAGEMENT OF THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT. INTIMIDA- 
TION ATTEMPTED, BUT DISREGARDED AND DEFIED. SOUTHERN 

MEN CATCH A TARTAR, AND BACK OUT. 

The mismanagement of the Post-Office Department, under 
Mr. Barry, had become so notorious to Congress and the 
nation that during the first session of the Twenty-third Con- 
gress both the Senate and the House of Representatives took 
the matter in hand, and appointed special committees for the 
purpose of investigating the affairs of that department. They 
took the matter in hand ; but the labor to be performed was so 



ANECDOTE OE WILLIAM COST JOILYSON. 30 1 

great, and the investigation so searching and thorough, that 
the committees were not able to make their reports until the 
second session of the same Congress. 

In the House, a majority and a minority report were made ; 
the latter very damaging to the Postmaster-General, as was also 
the very able and elaborate report of the majority of the Senate 
committee, drawn up by Mr. Ewing, of Ohio. The House 
minority report was prepared by Mr. Whittlesey, of Ohio. 

ANECDOTE OF WILLIAM COST JOHNSON. 

Mr. Barry had very warm personal and political friends in 
the House, who, not being disposed to allow his administration 
of the department to be criticised in a manner which the facts 
seemed to warrant, pretty broadly intimated that any attack 
upon him, or any severe animadversion upon his official acts, 
would be considered as personally offensive to them ; and of 
course whoever after this intimation should have the hardi- 
hood to tread on the forbidden ground must expect to be called 
to an account. 

I have spoken of William Cost Johnson, as the president of 
the Young Men's National Clay Convention held in Washing- 
ton in May, 1832. He was now in Congress, — an able, ready 
speaker, a man of fine appearance and address, and one of the 
very last men, in the House or out of it, to be intimidated by 
any such warnings as had been given out. On the contrary, 
such intimations only aroused his spirit, and prompted him to 
test the sincerity and courage of those who would thus attempt 
to browbeat the House into silence. The House met at six 
o'clock P.M., February 24, for an evening session, and resolved 
itself into committee of the whole, for the purpose of taking 
up " the bill to establish certain post routes, and for other pur- 
poses." The bill having been under consideration for a short 
time, and sundry amendments having been offered, Mr. Johnson, 
who always occupied a seat in the front row and next to the 
principal aisle, rose, and, casting his eyes around, and looking 
significantly at Mr. Hawes, of Kentucky, who, with others, had 
attempted to intimidate the House, said, in a very distinct and 
deliberate manner, that he was opposed to the bill in every 



292 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



shape and form. He then paused • for a minute or two, when, 
still looking at Mr. Hawes, he resumed : " Mr. Chairman, it 
has been broadly intimated by some gentlemen in this House 
that he who shall have the temerity to criticise the acts of the 
Postmaster-General must answer therefor elsewhere than in 
this hall. This I understand to be the purport, at least, of the 
remarks of some of the gentlemen on the other side of the 
House. Sir, I come from a portion of the country where the 
law of personal responsibility is recognized among gentlemen. 
I hold myself amenable to that law. I seek no personal con- 
flict ; but, sir, I shall never allow myself to be intimidated into 
its avoidance by menaces, come they from what quarter they 
may. As one of the representatives of Maryland, I intend to 
speak my sentiments here with perfect freedom ; and now, in 
the face of those menaces which have been thrown out on this 
floor, and intending to be responsible for what I am about to 
say, I declare that the Post-Office Department is corrupt from 
head to foot, through and through, and I believe that the head 
of that department, William T. Barry, is as culpable as any 
officer under his control." 

If a cannon had been fired in the hall it could not have 
created more surprise, commotion, and sensation than did this 
brief speech. A shot had been hurled dierctly into the covey, 
and there was great fluttering among them. 

Mr. Hawes replied to Mr. Johnson. " If I understood the gen- 
tleman correctly," said Mr. Hawes, " he gave it as his opinion 
that the department was corrupt from the Postmaster down to 
the lowest officer in the service. Did I understand him cor- 
rectly ?" 

Mr. Johnson.—" You did, sir." 

Mr. Hawes proceeded in a deprecatory strain, and called on 
the gentleman from Maryland to give the grounds on which 
he had made the charge of corruption against the Postmaster, 
who, he asserted, was as honest and honorable as any man who 
had a seat on that floor. 

Mr. Johnson did not doubt the sincerity of the gentleman 
from Kentucky when he asserted the honesty of the Post- 
master, but at the same time he did not retract what he had 



ANECDOTE OF WILLIAM COST JOIIXSON. 2QX 

said ; on the contrary, he repeated, that he bcheved there was 
corruption from beginning to end, from head to foot, from the 
highest to the lowest officer in the department ; though he did 
not mean to charge every one in the department, individually, 
with corruption. If his best and dearest friend had acted as 
the Postmaster had acted, he would, as the President should, 
have shaken him off as a viper whose touch brought pollution 
and death. 

Great efforts were made to induce Mr. Johnson to qualify, 
soften, or explain away his broad and direct charge of corrup- 
tion ; but he declared he had made the charge, and he had 
spirit enough to stand to it, be the consequences what they 
might. 

He was appealed to privately by personal friends from the 
Democratic side of the House to make some explanation that 
would save extreme measures. " No," was his reply ; " I have 
no explanation to give ; what I said I meant, and gentlemen 
may make the most of it." 

While Mr. Johnson was as cool and serene as a frosty morn- 
ing, the House was in a state of great excitement. It was 
obvious that there could be but one course pursued by those 
who had thrown out menaces : they must toe the mark, — 
nothing more nor less ; Johnson could neither be intimidated 
nor persuaded ; and he must therefore be challenged. But who 
was to challenge ? This was answered by the son of Postmaster 
Barry sending a challenge, which was promptly accepted by 
Mr. Johnson, the duel to take place hnviediatcly. This was a 
stunner, — a precipitancy in settling the affair altogether un- 
looked for. It was suggested that the meeting be delayed for 
a few days. " Not an hour," was Mr. Johnson's reply. " The 
affair must be settled at once." Would he not consent that the 
challenge be withdrawn ? To that he had nothing to sa}- : the 
challenger had the power to withdraw it if he thought proper, 
whether he consented or not. The challenge was withdrawn, 
and never was renewed ; the affair was ended. Johnson well 
knew that the best way to treat bullies is to outbully them. 
The Bobadils were thenceforward very tame and well-behaved 
members. 



294 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



ABOLITION PETITIONS. 



It was during the Twenty-third Congress, 1835, that the 
abolition of slavery, especially in the District of Columbia, may 
be said to have begun to move the public mind at the North. 
The first petitions presented to Congress for the abolition of 
slavery, at least the first to attract attention, were presented by 
Mr. Dickson, from the Canandaigua district. New York, who 
addressed the House in support of the prayer of the petitioners. 
Perhaps his speech, more than the petition he presented, served 
to stir up a feeling on the part of Southern men, and to cause 
other and numerous similar petitions to be gotten up at the 
North and sent to Congress. But from this time until the 
breaking out of the Rebellion in 1861, this subject did not 
cease to agitate Congress and the country. The South became 
alarmed ; they considered their domestic affairs interfered with, 
their peace and safety endangered, and their rights under the 
Constitution invaded. The feeling thus excited was not only 
that of apprehension, but of intense anger, to which they gave 
vent in the debates that arose upon the presentation of this 
class of petitions, — debates, not upon the merits or demerits 
of slavery, or its consistency or inconsistency with Christianity 
or the moral law, for these they would not discuss, but upon 
the reception and disposition of the petitions. 

The subject did not come again before the Twenty-third 
Congress ; but the " irrepressible conflict" was begun, and we 
shall see much of it hereafter. The labors of the enemies of 
slavery, or " Abolitionists," had commenced, and by indefati- 
gable men who believed they were serving God and the cause 
of humanity, and consequently it was with them a labor of 
conscience and duty, with which nothing should be allowed 
to interfere. Instead of petitions to Congress, they now sent 
large boxes of tracts, pamphlets, and various publications 
which the Southern people denominated " incendiary," to the 
post-office at Charleston, South Carolina, and other cities, to be 
distributed, as directed, to various persons. 

This increased the complaints and inflammatory articles in 
the Southern papers. The publications thus sent were stopped 



ABOLITION PETITIONS. 2Q' 

in the post-office, and the postmasters addressed the head 
of the department, Amos Kendall, on the subject, who repHed 
that though the law authorized the transmission of newspapers 
and pamphlets through the mail, yet the law was intended to 
promote the general good of the public, and not to injure 
any section ; and intimated that, such being the effect of these 
publications at the South, postmasters would be justified in 
withholding them. 

This transmission of " incendiary" publications through the 
mail caused great excitement, not only at the South, but in 
most of the sea-board cities at the North, especially New York, 
Boston, and Philadelphia, where public meetings were held on 
the subject and resolutions adopted tending to mollify the 
feelings of the South. The practice of sending such publica- 
tions through the mail was strongly condemned, and resolutions 
adopted denying in emphatic language any right to interfere 
with slavery; that it was a subject which belonged exclusively 
to the State in which it existed. Such, in effect, was one of 
the resolutions adopted by a great meeting in Boston, in the 
proceedings of which many of the first citizens participated. 

In Philadelphia the feeling ran high ; and it being rumored 
that a box of these publications was on board of a steamer then 
about to depart for Charleston, a committee of citizens was 
appointed to ascertain the facts. They did so, found the box, 
opened it, and emptied its contents into the Delaware. 

Each of the cities mentioned had, at that time, a valuable 
trade with the South, and the apprehension that this might be 
injuriously affected by the hostility then shown at the North 
against slavery, doubtless stimulated the action of those who 
manifested such earnest and lively opposition to the doings of the 
"Abolitionists;" though it must be admitted that at that time 
probably four-fifths, if not nineteen-twentieths, of the people of 
the non-slaveholding States, however opposed to slavery in the 
abstract, were equally opposed to any interference with it, not 
believing they had any right to meddle with it, and not thinking 
such interference calculated to preserve harmony or good feel- 
ing between the two portions of the country. Even Mr. Adams, 
the great champion of the right of petition, held this opinion. 



296 



PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 



NOMINATIONS FOR THE PRESIDENCY. 



The election of a President to succeed General Jackson 
having to take place in the fall of 1836, the friends of the 
various aspirants took occasion to place their candidates before 
the people. The Legislature of Massachusetts presented her 
candidate, " the great constitutional expounder," Daniel Web- 
ster. Judge Hugh L. White, of Tennessee, was nominated by 
the Legislature of Alabama, and the nomination was approved 
generally by those opposed to Jackson at the South, including 
many who had formerly been warm supporters of the adminis- 
tration. Judge McLean and General Harrison were nominated 
in Ohio, and the latter by a convention calling itself " Demo- 
cratic-Republican," at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. 

A NATIONAL CONVENTION of the Jackson, or, hereafter to be 
called, the Democratic party, was held at Baltimore on the 20th 
of May, 1836, for the purpose, not of selecting a candidate for 
the Presidency, but of nominating Martin Van V>\xxQ.n, pro forma ; 
he having been for a long time fixed upon — if we may believe 
the reiterated assertions of Jackson men in Congress — by Gen- 
eral Jackson as his successor. 

Mr. Van Buren Avas never popular, and it required all his 
tactics and General Jackson's influence to unite the party in 
his support. He was strong only through party discipline and 
General Jackson's partiality. Without the known attachment 
of the President to him, and the equally known restiveness of 
the latter whenever his wish or will was thwarted, there can be 
little doubt that some other prominent Democrat would have 
been the nominee. 

Judge White, a very prominent and original member of the 
Jackson party, the Cato of the United States, was a man of 
eminent abilities, honest and consistent in his political views, 
an able jurist, and an upright, estimable man, but opposed to 
the corrupting system of " rewarding friends and punishing 
enemies." This placed him out of the pale of the party at the 
North, where "the spoils" were everything desirable, but made 
him more popular at the South, which cared little for the minor 
offices of the government. 



"DELEGATES FRESH FROM THE PEOPLE." 2Q7 

The unpopularity of the one, and the great respect and 
esteem felt for the other, rendered it necessary that the Presi- 
dent should bring his influence to bear in favor of liis pet, and 
he therefore addressed a letter to his friend the Rev. Samuel 
Gwin, of Nashville, in which, professing to stand aloof from 
the contest, he avoided saying anything against his old friend 
Judge White, but gave it as his opinion that it was the true 
policy of the friends of Republican principles to send delegates 
"fresh from the people" to a general convention for the purpose 
of making a nomination, etc.; and the inference to be drawn 
by the faithful was, that a nomination having been so made, it 
was the duty "of the friends of Republican principles" to support 
the nominee. 

" DELEGATES FRESH FROM THE PEOPLE." 

The press and public speakers soon rang the changes on 
this expression, which brought out the facts, — 1st, that the forty- 
two delegates to the Baltimore Convention from the State of 
New York were appointed by a convention held at Albany, of 
which forty-eight were office-holders, eighteen of them post- 
masters, and twenty of the delegates thus appointed were office- 
holders ; 2d, that a man named Edward Rucker, from Tennessee, 
was the only person from that State, and that he was self- 
appointed, chosen by nobody, representing nobody, yet repre- 
senting in the convention the whole State ! This created much 
sport and comment in the press, and gave rise to the ex- 
pression " Ruckerizing," which was familiar in politics for 
many years; 3d, that many other members of the convention 
were self-appointed, representing no one but themselves, and 
acting in accordance with the wishes of no one in their re- 
spective States but the Federal office-holders. From these 
circumstances, and from the fact that a large number of the 
delegates were government employes, the convention was gen- 
erally dubbed " the office-holders' convention." So far as it 
represented the true feeling or choice of the people of the 
United States, in regard to either of its nominees, it was a 
farce, if not a fraud. 

In the Presidential campaign which followed there was no 



298 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



enthusiasm : all was quiet. The numerous candidates in oppo- 
sition to the Jackson nominee so divided the opposition as to 
preclude all hope for the success of either, and therefore little 
or no exertion was made to defeat Mr. Van Buren. Mr. Clay, 
seeing that it was quite impossible to unite all the elements 
of opposition upon a single candidate, very wisely refused to 
allow himself to be nominated. 

EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. 

On the last day of the Twenty-third Congress, in the Senate, 
on the motion of Mr. Clayton, of Delaware, was taken up for 
consideration the resolution some time before offered by Mr. 
Benton, to expunge from its journal the resolution adopted by 
the Senate on the 28th of March, 1834, condemnatory of the 
President for removing Mr. Duane and the public deposits. A 
discussion, partaking of great heat, party feeling, and as much 
of personality as decorum and the rules of the Senate would 
permit, ensued. Mr. White, of Tennessee, opposed the reso- 
lution offered by Mr. Benton, and moved to strike out " ex- 
punge" and insert " rescind, reverse, and to make null and 
void." Mr. Benton insisted on retaining the word "expunge." 
The word " rescind" was not strong enough. It was a harm- 
less word, expressing no markca disapprobation. He wished to 
make use of a phraseology which would strongly express that 
the resolution ought never to have been put on the journal. 

The vote being taken, amid much excitement, on a motion 
to strike out the words " ordered to be expunged from the 
journal," it was decided in the affirmative, — 39 to 7. 

Mr. Webster then said the vote, the great vote, which the 
Senate had just given accomplished all he had ever desired 
respecting this expunging resolution. He, however, moved to 
lay whatever was left of the resolution on the table, which was 
agreed to, — 27 to 20. 

But Mr. Benton, not discouraged by defeat, rose in a few 
minutes and again submitted the same resolution, which, he 
said, he desired should stand for the second week of the next 
session. Mr. Benton had at least the virtue of perseverance : 
he never gave up, even when defeated. 



SURPLUS REVENUE. 299 



DEATH OF CHIEF-JUSTICE MARSHALL. 

John Marshall died in Philadelphia in July, 1S35, leaving 
vacant a seat the most important of any under the govern- 
ment, — an office more honorable, and requiring far superior 
mental powers and acquirements to fill, than that of President ; 
an office in which he had become illustrious, and upon which 
he had conferred honor, by his profound learning as a jurist, 
his purity and simplicity of character, his ardent patriotism, his 
love of truth and justice, and his unaffected modesty. 

He had occupied the elevated seat for thirty-five years, 
during a most eventful period, when it became the duty of the 
Supreme Court to settle the great questions arising out of the 
Constitution, concerning executive and legislative powers, the 
relative powers of the general government and those of the 
States, and innumerable others, and to declare what was con- 
stitutional and what was not. 

Upon every subject with which he grappled he threw the 
light of a great intellect and brought to bear the most pro- 
found learning and logic, making clear the path he trod for 
others to follow. His name has become a household word 
with the American people, implying greatness, purity, honesty, 
and all the Christian virtues, — the simplicity of a child, the 
intellect of a Bacon, the greatness of a Mansfield. He was 
born on the 24th of September, 1755, and died on the 6th of 
July, 1835. 

Mr. Roger B. Taney, late Attorney-General, and Secretary 
of the Treasury, who removed the public its from the 

Bank of the United States, was a^^peintcd 011 the 28th of 
December, 1835, to succeed Chief-Justice Marshall. 

SURPLUS REVENUE. 

Mr. Clay's bill (which had passed both branches of Congress 
by overwhelming majorities) to distribute the proceeds of the 
sales of public lands having been first retained till the next 
session, and then vetoed, and finally defeated, and it being 
apparent that there was to be — and, indeed, there already was 
— a large surplus of money in the treasury over and above the 



300 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

wants of the government, the Whigs introduced a proposition 
to distribute this surplus revenue to the States. 

The bill, as it finally passed, provided that the share which 
fell to each State should be deposited with such State, subject 
to be called for by the general government whenever needed, 
and to be refunded by the State. The bill passed the Senate 
by 38 to 6, and the House by 155 to 38, and was reluctantly 
signed by the President. 

Under this law, twenty-eight millions of dollars were distrib- 
uted to the States, some of them, for a time, refusing to receive 
their allotted portion. No part of it has ever been returned ;. 
and, as the beggar said to Sir Walter Scott, who had given him 
half a crown, having nothing less, and told him to remember 
that he owed him two shillings, " Yes, your honor ; and may 
your honor live till I pay it !" I would say, May the Union of 
these States never be broken until this money is refunded ! 

THE MANIA OF SPECULATION. 

From the moment the United States Bank ceased to be the 
depository of the public moneys, the currency began to be 
deranged, exchanges high and irregular, the deposit or " pet 
banks" to discount freely, new State banks to spring rapidly 
into existence, and a superabundance of paper currency to 
be put into circulation. This, of course, affected prices of all 
kinds, — produce, merchandise, land, labor, etc., and created 
great activity and desire to speculate, to purchase lands, lots, 
and other property, which seemed to be constantly rising in 
value; the real fact, which the people could not then see, 
being that money, or that which passed as such, was falling 
in value from its superabundance. 

The constant appare)it rise in the value of lots and land stim- 
ulated further speculation. The new banks were desirous of 
putting their bills into circulation, and therefore discounted the 
notes of speculators freely. The "pet banks" had been charged 
by the Secretary of the Treasury to give liberal accommoda- 
tions to the community, so as to prevent the withdrawal of 
the United States Bank circulation being seriously felt. They 
scarcely needed this hint to induce them to discount freely. 



THE MOON HOAX. oqi 

Hundreds and thousands, with the " money" thus easily ac- 
quired, rushed to the West, or wherever pubh'c lands could be 
obtained, and purchased largely. Other thousands — I might 
almost say millions — plunged deeply into other speculations, 
such as purchasing, and selling for advanced prices, city lots, 
wheat, corn, cotton, — everything, indeed, for sale, or in the 
market. Give what price one would, the article went up, up, 
up, and this produced a perfect rage for speculation. Every- 
body was getting rich. 

But when the smash came, as come it must, and did, down 
went land, property of every kind, labor, and prices. 

This was not unforeseen or unpredicted by the statesmen in* 
Congress. In a debate on a resolution offered by Mr. Benton, 
that nothing but gold and silver ought to be received in pay- 
ment for the public lands, he said " he was able to inform the 
Senate how it happened that the sales of the public lands had 
deceived all calculations, and run up from four to TW' ENTY- 
FIVE millions a year. It was thus : speculators went to banks, 
borrowed five, ten, twenty, fifty thousand dollars in paper, in 
small notes, usually under twenty dollars, and engaged to carry 
off these notes to a great distance, sometimes five hundred or a 
thousand miles, and there lay them out for public lands. Being 
land-office money, they would circulate in the countr\-; many 
of these small notes would never return at all, and their loss 
would be clear gain to the bank; others would not return for 
a long time, and the bank would draw interest on them for 
years before they had to redeem them. Thus speculators, 
loaded with paper, would outbid settlers and cultivators who 
had no such accommodations from banks, and who had nothing 
but specie to give for lands, or the notes which were its equiv- 
alent." 

THE MOON HOAX. 

One of the most extraordinary pieces of deception ever played 
off upon a community was perpetrated in New York in August, 
1835, with complete success. It was known that Sir John 
Herschel, the leading astronomer of his day, had been for a 
considerable time at the Cape of Good Hope, for the purpose 
of making astronomical observations and discoveries, and that 



202 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

he was supplied for this purpose with a very large telescope. 
People were therefore prepared, or would not be surprised, to 
hear of very important, and even extraordinary, discoveries 
made by him. 

But they were surprised, delighted, astounded, thrown into 
ecstasies, by a long, minute, and dazzling account which ap- 
peared in the " New York Sun," a penny paper, one morning, 
and continued for several days, of the wonderful and inter- 
esting discoveries made by that eminent astronomer, in the 
moon. 

Hoax though it was, it was so ingeniously got up, had such 
■an odor of science, and so much vraiseinblance, or appearance 
of truth, that not only common people, uneducated and un- 
scientific, were taken in, but editors and scientific men were 
completely deceived. 

In the first place, the title of the hoax, or satire, was well 
calculated to blind those not very sharp-sighted : it was thus : 

" Great Astronomical Discoveries lately made by Sir John 
Herschel, LL.D., etc., at the Cape of Good Hope." And it was 
announced that it was " first published in the ' New York Sun,' 
from the supplement to the ' Edinburgh Journal of Science.' " 

A very few pronounced it a hoax, but the multitude believed 
it an account of veritable but extraordinary discoveries. It 
absorbed conversation ; it was the one topic of wonder and 
remark. The question woidd arise, Is it, can it be true ? And 
the answer generally given was. Why, it must be ; nobody 
could invent such wonderful discoveries. 

One of the New York daily papers noticed it thus : 

" Stupendous Discoveries in Astronomy. — We have read, 
with unspeakable emotions of pleasure and astonishment, an 
article from the last number of the ' Edinburgh Scientific 
Journal,' containing an account of the recent discoveries of Sir 
John Herschel at the Cape of Good Hope," etc. 

Another New York paper said, " No article, we believe, has 
appeared for years that will command so general a perusal and 
publication. Sir John has added a stock of knowledge to the 
present age that will immortalize his name and place it high 
on the page of Science," 



THE MOON HOAX. ^03 

From another paper : 

" Discoveries in the Moon. — We commence to-day the 
publication of an interesting article, which is stated to have 
been copied from the ' Edinburgh Journal of Science,' and 
which made its first appearance here in a cotemporary journal 
of this city. It appears to carry intrinsic evidence of being an 
authentic document. We have seen no allusion to the article 
in the last English papers; but it is known that Sir John 
Herschel has been stationed at the Cape of Good Hope for 
some time, under the patronage of the British government, in 
making astronomical observations, for which purpose he was 
furnished with instruments of extraordinary power. It was also 
announced a month or two since, through the German papers, 
that the great astronomer at Vienna had received information 
from Mr. Herschel himself that he had made highly important 
discoveries, which would in due time be communicated to the 
world. These circumstances induce us to give place to an 
article which, if genuine, will be of the utmost importance to 
the cause of science." 

But " the fun of it was," that before the publication of the 
whole story — it was very long, filling eight or ten close 
columns in some papers — it leaked out, and began to get 
through people's heads, that the public had been most com- 
pletely taken in ; in truth, fairly hoaxed. It was amusing, 
then, to hear from every one the declaration that " he knciv it 
was a hoax from the first ; that he had never been deceived for 
a moment; nobody had ever believed it, — it was a palpable 
fiction on its face;" and many such asseverations. 

I wais then editor and proprietor of a daily paper — the 
" Commercial Herald" — in Philadelphia, and although I was at 
first one of the victims of this clever, ingenious, and extraor- 
dinary fiction, it so happened that I did not commit myself 
as to my belief of its truthfulness ; nor did I feel ashamed, or 
mortified, at having been " taken in." It was so cleverly done, 
and I had such multitudes of companions, that I could afford to 
laugh as everybody did. 

The hoax was written by Richard Adams Locke (who died 
in 187 1), then editor of the " Sun," to which it gave great cdat 



304 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



and a very large circulation. It gave him, moreover, for many 
years, great celebrity ; and even to the present day he is well 
remembered by those who were then old enough to participate 
in the affairs of life. I shall, without giving this famous quiz 
too much space, endeavor to convey some idea of it by making 
a few short extracts. 

Mr. Locke began by giving some account of " great astro- 
nomical discoveries," more or less true or fictitious, to prepare 
the mind for his account of wonderful discoveries never made, 
and finally of the " prodigious lens" procured by Dr. Herschel 
to enable him to explore the heavenly fields of space and to 
examine the moon from his station at the Cape of Good Hope. 
This monster lens, he said, weighed fourteen thousand eight 
hundred and twenty-six pounds, or nearly seven tons, and its 
magnifying power' was estimated at forty -two thousand times. 
After describing some of the topographical cliscoveries, he 
proceeds thus : 

" Having continued this close inspection nearly two hours, 
during which we passed over a wide tract of country, chiefly of 
a rugged and apparently volcanic character, . . . the lenses 
being removed, and the effulgence of our unutterably glorious 
reflectors left undiminished, we found, in accordance with our 
calculations, that our field of view comprehended about twenty- 
five miles of the lunar surface, with the distinctness both of 
outline and detail which could be procured of a terrestrial 
object at the distance of two and a half miles. . . . Presently a 
train of scenery met our eye, of features so entirely novel that 
Dr. Herschel signaled for the lowest convenient gradation of 
movement. It was a lofty chain of obelisk-shaped, or very 
slender, pyramids, standing in irregular groups, each composed 
of about thirty or forty spires, every one of which was perfectly 
square, and as accurately truncated as the finest specimens of 
Cornish crystal. They were of a faint lilac hue, and very 
resplendent. . . . He (Dr. H.) pronounced them quartz forma- 
tions, of probably the wine-colored amethyst species, and 
promised -us, from these and other proofs which he had ob- 
tained of the powerful action of the laws of crystallization in 
this planet, a rich field of mineralogical study. On intro- 



THE MOON HOAX. ,q^ 

ducing a lens, his conjecture was fully confirmed ; they were 
monstrous amethysts, of a delicate claret color, glowing in the 
intensest light of the sun ! They varied in height from sixty 
to ninety feet, though we saw several of a more incredible 
altitude." 

He then describes some curious animals they discovered in 
some beautiful valleys, their playfulness, agility, and exquisite 
beauty; also various kinds of birds, — two or three long-tailed 
birds which were judged to be golden and blue pheasants! 
They also discovered on the shores of a sea countless multi- 
tudes of univalve shell-fish ! But this " fish storv" stacrcrered 
the most credulous ; and a good many absolutely and posi- 
tively declared, as the Indian did to the missionary about 
Jonah's being in the whale's belly, that they would not believe 
" the fish story ;" and some even went so far as to declare that 
it was all a lie. 

Mr. Locke goes on and on with his glowing account of these 
astounding discoveries. One " was a pure quartz rock, about 
three miles in circumference, towering in naked majesty from 
the blue deep: it glowed in the sun almost like a sapphire." 
Then they discovered flocks of lunar sheep, of an extraordinary 
character, as indeed everything was. 

But did not these wonderful discoveries bring forth " the 
man in the moon" ? Certainly, or some lunar creature which 
must take his place. The account goes on, after several daj's' 
narrative, thus : " But we had not far to seek for inhabitants 
of this 'Vale of the Triads.' . . . We saw several detached as- 
semblies of beings whom we instantly recognized to be of the 
same species as our winged friends of the Ruby Coliseum near 
Lake Langrenus [an account of whom, or which, had been 
given some time before]. Nearly all the individuals in these 
groups were of a larger stature than the former specimens, 
less dark in color, and in every respect an improved variety 
of the race. [This is evidently a hit at the negro.] They 
were chiefly engaged in eating a large yellow fruit, like a 
gourd, sections of which they dexterously divided with their 
fingers and ate with rather uncouth voracity, throwing away 

the rind." 

20 



3o6 



PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 



What a wonderful lens that " nearly seven tons" lens must 
have been, to enable Dr. Herschel to discern the fingers of 
those winged creatures, and to see how they ate their fruit 
and threw away the rind ! 

" The most attractive of all the animals discovered was a tall, 
white stag, with lofty spreading antlers black as ebony. We 
several times saw this elegant creature trot up to the seated 
parties of semi-human beings and browse on the herbage close 
beside them. . . . This universal state of amity among all 
classes of lunar creatures gave us the most refined pleasure." 

Such, briefly, was "the Moon Hoax," which excited as much 
interest, and caused as much talk and wonderment, for a time, 
as did the " falling stars" when first seen in all their splendor 
and glory. 

FIRST SESSION OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH CONGRESS. — ABOLITION 

PETITIONS. 

A great portion of the time of both Houses of the Twenty- 
fourth Congress was consumed in debate upon the reception of 
petitions for the abolition of slavery and the slave-trade in the 
District of Columbia, and upon the subject of suppressing in- 
cendiary publications or preventing their being transported in 
the mail. Mr. Calhoun introduced a bill upon the latter sub- 
ject, which underwent the usual amount of discussion, though 
the speeches upon this subject, and upon the proposition, by Mr. 
Calhoun, in the Senate, to reject all petitions for the abolition 
of slavery in the District of Columbia, were far more temperate 
and dispassionate than those in the House. 

But the more violently the Southern members opposed the 
reception of petitions, the more rapidly they poured in, and 
with their increase the feeling of Southern men rose against 
abolition, or the interference of the North with their rights. 
They supposed that by refusing to receive petitions they could 
stop them : as well might they have attempted to stop the flow 
of Niagara. 

Mr. Adams declared that he was opposed to granting the 
prayer of the petitioners, and advocated their reference to a 
committee, to be instructed to report the reasons why the prayer 



UNFRIENDL Y RE LA TIONS WITH FRANCE. 



307 



of the petitioners ought not to be granted. Had this course 
been taken, and himself placed at the head of the committee, he 
would have made an able report in accordance with the views 
he expressed, and then petitions would have been referred with- 
out debate, — debate being, as he declared, what he wished to 
prevent, its tendency being to excite angry feelings between 
the two parts of the country. 

But Southern men would not agree to this wise and prudent 
course ; on the contrary, they struck at the right of petition, 
and in doing so found Mr. Adams an indomitable champion 
of this right to the day of his death, and in the end they 
themselves brought about that which they so strenuously, 
passionately, and furiously strove to prevent. Had Southern 
members refrained from debate on the reception of these peti- 
tions, let them come in unopposed and be referred silently to a 
committee, — the tomb of the Capulets, — there to remain undis- 
turbed, it cannot be doubted that they would soon have ceased, 
and the angry feeling between the South and the North would 
have been avoided. But Providence had decreed that slavery 
in this country must be extinguished, and those who clung to 
it were made the instruments of its destruction by Him who 
causeth the wrath of man to work out His designs. They 
hammered the rivets of the chain which bound their slaves 
till it broke and the slaves went free. 

UNFRIENDLY RELATIONS WITH FRANCE. 

Our relations with France were still of an unfriendly charac- 
ter. France owed us money, — five millions of dollars, — which 
she had stipulated to pay, and was ready to pay upon certain 
conditions. The President had used language which she con- 
strued into a threat : he had recommended reprisals upon her 
commerce unless the money should be promptly paid. Her 
national pride was touched : she would not act under an implied 
threat, but was ready to comply with her stipulations if assured 
that no threat was intended. All she desired was to protect 
her honor, and in regard to that she was, as she ever had been, 
highly sensitive. 

But General Jackson was as stubborn as France was proud ; 



308 PUBLIC MEN AND EVEJNTS. 

and so the two nations stood, when the President sent a special 
message to the Senate on the subject of these relations, evincing 
anythin-g but amicable feelings or a conciliatory spirit. Its 
tone was, indeed, menacing, and calculated to irritate, not to 
soothe. One of its recommendations, or rather its specific 
recommendation, was " to pivJiibit the introduction of Frencli prod- 
7ict5 into tins conntryy The " Globe" broke out in raptures 
at "the high, patriotic stand the President had assumed," and 
Mr. Buchanan could not refrain from speaking in the Senate in 

ft 

glowing terms of its manly tone, and expressing the great 
satisfaction it gave him. Others of the Jackson party followed, 
in equally high praise of the message. 

On the other hand, Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Webster, Mr. Clay, 
and others strongly reprobated its unfriendly and menacing 
tone, as uncalled for, impolitic, and calculated to embroil us 
with a foreign nation not disposed to be unfriendly. 

Mr. Calhoun spoke in his usual emphatic manner in con- 
demnation of the message, deeming it most unwise and tend- 
ing to involve us in an unnecessary conflict. Never did he 
listen, he said, to a document with more melancholy feelings, 
with a single exception, — the war message from the same quar- 
ter, a few years before, against one of the sovereign members 
of this Confederacy. 

He feared that the condition in which the country is now 
placed has been the result of a deliberate and systematic policy. 
The cause of the difference between the two nations was too 
trivial to terminate in war. He would not assert that the Ex- 
ecutive has deliberately aimed at war from the commencement, 
but he would say that from the beginning of the controversy to 
the present moment the course the President has pursued has 
been precisely the one calculated to terminate in a conflict be- 
tween the two nations. 

Fortunately, the government of Great Britain, at this moment, 
tendered its mediation for the adjustment of the dispute, which 
the President in a special message, on the 8th of February, in- 
formed Congress he had accepted. 



SCENE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 30Q 



STIRRING SCENE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

On the last night of the last session of the Twenty-third 
Congress an amendment was inserted, in the House, to the 
Fortification bill, appropriating three millions of dollars to be 
used at the discretion of the President.* This item was rejected 
by the Senate, after much heated debate, and in the contest be- 
tween the two Houses in regard to it the bill itself failed, — the 
hour of twelve o'clock p.m. of the 3d of March having arrived 
before the bill could be, or was, reported to the House by the 
committee of conference, and many members believing that as 
a legislative body Congress was defunct. 

The failure of the bill, considering the unfriendly relations 
existing between the United States and France, and the unpre- 
pared condition of our coast defenses, created a good deal of 
feeling, called forth much censure, and elicited crimination and 
recrimination between the two branches, each charging the 
failure of the bill upon the other. 

On the 22d of January, Mr. Cambreling rose in the House 
to reply to some criticisms upon his action in regard to that 
bill on the occasion mentioned. He was charged with the 
responsibility of defeating the bill ; his object, as was alleged, 
being to throw the odium of its defeat upon the Senate. 

The subject being thus brought up, Mr. Adams rose and sub- 
mitted a resolution for the appointment of a special committee 
to inquire into the causes of the loss of the Fortification bill at 
the last session. It was well known that he intended to seize 
the first opportunity to reply to Mr. Webster's speech in the 
Senate on the night and the occasion referred to, to settle some 
old accounts. 

Whether such motives prompted him or not, his speech was 
filled with invective. 

In the commencement of his remarks, Mr. Adams referred to 
the proceedings of the Senate on the last night of the last 
session, and he was twice called to order by the Speaker. Mr. 
Adams then said he would endeavor to keep himself within the 
rules of the House. He would transfer the place where these 

* To prepare for war with France. 



-10 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

things (which he was commenting on) occurred to the office of 
the " National Intelligencer," and asked if the gentleman from 
Virginia (General Mercer), who had also called him to order, 
had any objection to that. 

Mr. Mercer said he objected to quibbling. Mr. Adams pro- 
ceeded to reply to allegations made elsewhere, that the failure 
of the Fortification bill was owing to the fault of the House. 

He said it was admitted that the failure of the bill was caused 
by the introduction of a section in which three millions of 
dollars were appropriated. Upon this subject an issue had 
been taken in the " National Intelligencer" (meaning the Sen- 
ate), which involved not merely the President of the United 
States but the House of Representatives. Mr. Adams pro- 
ceeded in a strain of vehemence, which created great feeling 
and caused him to be called frequently to order; great con- 
fusion, noise, and disorder reigning in the hall. 

In giving the history of the introduction of the three-million 
section into the bill, and in assigning a cause for it, he said 
that in the multitude of reproaches as to the unconstitutionality 
of the proceedings, both of the Executive and House of Repre- 
sentatives, at the last session, one of the great charges was that 
the House inserted this appropriation without a recommenda- 
tion from the Executive. This was the great basis upon which 
was founded that burst of patriotic indignation and eloquence 
which would rather have seen an " enemy battering down the 
walls of this Capitol" [words used by Mr. Webster] than have 
agreed to this appropriation for the defense of the country. 
" Sir," said Mr. Adams, " only one step more was necessary, and 
an easy step it was, for men who would refuse an appropriation, 
even in the terms and under the specifications in which that 
was proposed, if the enemy were at the gates of the Capitol. 
I say there was only one step more, and that a natural and 
easy one, — to join the enemy in battering down these walls." 

Upon the utterance of these words in Mr. Adams's dramatic 
manner and with great vehemence, the Jackson men in the 
House broke into a wild shout of applause, — -sprang to their 
feet, clapped their hands, and screamed with exultation. 

The Speaker (Mr. Polk), for some time, in vain attempted to 



MR. WISE'S SPEECH. 



311 



restore order. In rebuke of the House, he said he had never 
witnessed anything of this kind before. 

Mr. Mercer said that nothing hke it had ever before occurred; 
it was wholly unprecedented ; and he hoped he should never 
witness a like scene again. 

Order being restored, Mr. Adams proceeded, and in due time 
completed his extraordinary harangue. The shaft thrown with 
such force and temper was aimed at Mr. Webster: hence the 
exultation of the Jackson men. 

THE SCENE CONTINUED. — MR. WISE'S EXTRAORDINARY SPEECH. 

When Mr. Adams resumed his seat, Mr. Wise (of Virginia) 
rose and stated that he had not expected to address the House 
that day : he was in preparation for this discussion, but it had 
come up unexpectedly ; but, as it had arisen, he would, though 
not prepared as he desired to be, avail himself of the occasion 
and deliver what he had to say upon it. The question was, 
" Who is responsible for the failure of the Fortification bill of 
the last session ?" 

Mr. Wise proceeded, and frequently referred to members by 
name, and was as frequently called to order by the Speaker. 
He went into a history of the Fortification bill at the last ses- 
sion, his aim evidently being to fasten the responsibility of its 
failure upon Mr. Cambreling, chairman of the committee of 
ways and means, who had charge of it. In giving this history, 
he continued to speak of members by name, and was on every 
such occasion called to order by the Speaker. This produced 
much irritation and intemperate language, Mr. Wise being some- 
what choleric, irascible, and free-spoken. He claimed that he 
read the names of members from the journal of the last Con- 
gress, which he had a right to do, though they were members 
of the present Congress, and he challenged the right of the 
Speaker to interrupt him. 

Mr. Wise proceeded for some time in giving this history, and 
all the circumstances attending the progress and failure of the 
bill, and also of the termination of the session, and then said, 
" Such was the termination of the last Congress ; and I do say, 
sir, it was one of the most disgraceful scenes I ever witnessed ; 



,12 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

it was unbecoming barbarians and savages, much more the 
representatives of a civilized nation ! Sleepy, tired, drunk !" 

Mr. Bynum. — " Is the gentleman in order when speaking 
thus of the last Congress ?" 

Mr. Wise. — " I do not pretend to say, Mr. Speaker, that all 
Congress was drunk, or one-half, or one-third, or one-tenth of 
the members were drunk ; but I know that some were ; and so 
it was that, what with manoeuvring, being tired, opposed to 
some measures, sleepy, and drunk, no quorum could be had 
unless it had suited certain individuals. 

" I have given the facts upon the journal ; but there are 
other important facts, facts unwritten. Sir, it is said the bill 
failed in the House. That is not true. It failed before it got 
to the House from the conference-room. It dropped like a 
spent ball before it quite got here ; it dropped near the door. 
Sir, there are two statements about the matter ; they may be 
conjectural. I put it to the gentleman [Mr. Cambreling], Did 
no ' busybody' whisper aught in his ear as he was on his way 
to report to the House? Did no one tempt him to strangle 
the bantling in his care ? Was there no ' magician' near ? 
No d — 1 and his imps? Did no member of the committee 
receive a billet-doux after he resumed his seat? . , . What pre- 
vented the report being made ? Sir, there were spirits haunting 
the Capitol that awfu' night; there were strange whispering 
chattering elfs, — ghosts, as I am told, — I did not see them, — 
blue devils and imps ! Is it true ? Was there any dealing 
with the ' infernals' that night? Tell us, I pray you; tell us, 
and let the curse fall on the necromancers, — not on the victims 
of the horrid spell." 

Mr. Wise proceeded in this strain of violent invective, 
bringing charges against Mr. Cambreling and Mr. Polk (now 
Speaker), and finally, having made a specific charge against the 
latter, exclaimed, in a bold, accusative tone, " Is it true ? Yes 
or no ? Guilty or not guilty ? I call on the chairman of the 
committee of ways and means of the last Congress [Mr. 
Polk] to answer." 

Great confusion and agitation followed, Mr. Wise being 
repeatedly called to order by members, and many of the 



MR. WISE'S SPEECH. ..^ 

JO 

Speaker's friends objecting to his answering. He, Iiowevcr, 
preferred doing so, and gave an account of what took place, 
in which there was nothing unusual, nothing which needed 
explanation. Mr. Polk said he was really unable to conceive 
how this could be a matter of any sort of importance. 

Mr. Wise occupied parts of two days in delivering this 
wild, ranting harangue, — Randolph-like, taking a wide field of 
excursion, and firing right and left, though not at random ; 
now throwing an arrow into Mr. Adams, who, he declared, had 
always had the bad fortune to prostrate his own friends, now 
sending a shaft into the Executive and the ruling party, accusing 
both of attempts to'coerce Congress. 

Mr. Cambreling, in replying to him, said he should not as- 
tonish the House with indecorum, and hoped he should never 
be tempted on any occasion, even by the wild rant of disap- 
pointed ambition, to forget his own self-respect or his regard 
for the dignity of the House so far as to treat any gentleman 
with disrespect. 

Mr. Wise had asked if there was no magician near (meaning 
Mr. Van Buren). In reply, Mr. Cambreling said, the Vice- 
President and Secretary of State were in the House and about 
leaving when the committee of conference returned to it. He 
had a few words of conversation with the Secretary, but not a 
syllable passed between him and the Vice-President. And so 
the "magician," "devil and his imps," "blue devils," "infcrnals," 
and all the evil spirits which had been conjured up by a fervid 
imagination, were at once dispelled and resolved into "thin 
air," or flesh and blood, in the shape of Mr. Van Buren and 
Mr. Forsyth. 

THE SCENE CONTINUED. MR. H.\KDIN'S, MR. KEED's, AND MR. 

Evans's replies to mr. adams. 

At the close of Mr. Wise's speech, Mr. Hardin, of Ken- 
tucky, took the floor to reply to the speech of Mr. Adams, 
so denunciatory of Mr. Webster and the Whigs of the Senate 
who refused to vote for the three-million section of the Fortifi- 
cation bill. 

Mr. Hardin was a " rough-and-ready" debater, accustomed 



314 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

to " the stump" in Kentucky, and trained by conflicts with 
opponents of more wit than worth, more common sense than 
common-school education, more pugnacity than poHsh. He 
was known by the sobriquet of " Meat-axe Hardin." 

Mr. Hardin ironically expressed his admiration at the courage 
of the chairman of the committee of ways and means (Mr. 
Cambreling), who some days before intimated that he had 
higher game than the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wise) in 
view, alluding to Mr. Webster; and when the gentleman rose 
yesterday, he said, he looked for a battle of the giants. He 
then drew something of a contrast between the chairman of 
the committee on finance in the Senate (Mr. Webster) and the 
chairman of the committee of ways and means in the House 
(Mr. Cambreling), to the great amusement of the House. 

Mr. Hardin soon paid his respects to Mr. Adams, the loud- 
voiced Sempronius, whose "voice was still for war;" quoting 
Sempronius's speech. The gentleman had been eight years 
Secretary of State under Mr. Monroe, and four years Presi- 
dent, during all which time the French refused to indemnify 
us for our losses. Was he then so full of fight ? Yet now he 
declares that those who voted against the appropriation of 
three millions at the last session had but one step more to 
take, and that was to open the gates of the Capitol to the 
enemy, and then join them. 

The gentleman would remember that the modest Lucius 
replied to Sempronius, " My thoughts, I must confess, are 
turned on peace," and that in the sequel Sempronius deserted 
to Caesar, but Lucius remained faithful to Cato, and fought it 
out like a man. 

Mr. Hardin asked who were the men whom Mr. Adams had 
attacked and denounced as traitors ? They were his old friends 
and political supporters, who stood by him in former times and 
faced the battle and the breeze ; who, on account of their sup- 
porting him, have been proscribed by the government and party 
in power : and now the very man for whom they are proscribed 
turns against them and joins the ranks of their enemies ! 

Mr. Evans (of Maine) followed in the discussion, and in the 
course of his remarks paid his respects to Mr. Adams. " The 



MR. EVANS'S PHILIPPIC. ^je 

gentleman," he said, "when called to order for violating a rule 
of the House which interdicts any allusion in one branch to the 
doings in the other, said he would transfer the location of the 
place where these things happened, from the Senate to the 
' National Intelligencer,' and then, quoting with literal fidelity 
expressions used in a debate in the Senate, he proceeded to 
comment upon them in a tone which I forbear to characterize. 
On the following day the gentleman interrupted the remarks, 
pungent and conclusive as they were, of the honorable member 
from Virginia [Mr. Wise], 'to explain.' In what he had said 
the day before, he alluded to no individual whatever ; he had no 
person in his mind; he only 'personified a sentiment ;' and to 
that personification he addressed himself Such was the expla- 
nation. Now, sir, I must be permitted to say, if he was not 
replying to what had been said in the Senate, — if he had no 
reference to particular members of it, — in his own language, 
' all that eloquence was gratuitous, and all that indignation 
wastefully squandered away ;' and, I may add, the time of this 
House was also wastefully squandered away. He either had 
reference, and pointed reference, too, to a distinguished member 
of that body, or he had not. If he had, then he violated the 
rules of the House. If he had not, then was his speech an 
effusion of unmeaning bombast, aimed at nothing, proving no- 
thing but the ill-suppressed feelings which prompted it. The 
great business of the nation must stop to allow the gentle- 
man to run a tilt against 'the personification of a sentiment,' 
and the House exhibits the disgraceful spectacle of boisterous 
applause at his fancied success in overthrowing * a personified 
sentiment.' " 

Mr. Evans closed his scathing philippic by saying that he 
(Mr. Adams) had become the object of commiseration to his 
friends and of derision to his enemies, and to both he would 
leave him. 

Certainly his friends felt deep regret at the course he had 
taken. For a time his old friends were estranged ; but the bad 
feelings thus created gradually wore away, and former relations 
were restored. 



3i6 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



UNITED STATES BANK. 



Application was made to the Legislature of Pennsylvania for 
a State charter, which, after much opposition from the Jackson 
men, was granted, and the bill was signed by Governor Ritner, 
on the 8th of February, 1836. The bank gave a large bonus 
for its charter, a portion of which constituted and was the com- 
mencement of a common-school fund for the State, and was, 
moreover, the origin of the present excellent common-school 
system of Pennsylvania, which has done, and is doing, so much 
for the State. 

For this great blessing the children and youth of that State 
owe eternal gratitude to Thaddeus Stevens, at that time a 
member of the Legislature, who insisted upon a portion of the 
bonus the bank was to pay being thus disposed of, and who 
carried through the Legislature, against great and fierce oppo- 
sition, the bill, drawn by himself, creating the common-school 
system now in existence. 

It has been the great luminary whose rays have penetrated 
and enlightened the dark places, for a long time obstinately shut 
against light. School-houses now dot every part of the State, 
even those formerly benighted regions where a schoolmaster 
was held to be a rogue or a vagrant, and if he did not imme- 
diately disappear would have stood a fair chance to be " hung 
with his pen and ink-horn about his neck ;" where it was unsafe 
to " talk of a noun, and a verb, and such abominable words, and 
people made their mark, like honest, plain-dealing men." 

rebellion and revolution in TEXAS. 

Much excitement was created in every part of the United 
States, but especially in Georgia, Alabama, and some other 
Southern States, and in Pennsylvania, by. accounts from Texas, 
first of the march of an army, headed by Santa Anna, into 
Texas, and then of battles; of the massacre of Colonels Fannin 
and Ward and the troops under their command. 

The first battle fought was that of the Alamo, in which these 
two officers and their troops, numbering about four hundred, 
were defeated and taken prisoners by an immensely superior 



REBELLION AND REVOLUTION IN TEXAS. 



317 



force. In surrendering as prisoners of war, they stipulated to 
retain their arms, but without ammunition. The battle had 
been a desperate one, about four hundred Mexicans having 
been killed. 

After the battle they were marched to Goliad, where they 
were retained as prisoners. On the eighth day after reaching 
Goliad, they were marched out a short distance from the fort, 
on the pretense that they were to go on a buffalo-hunt, halted, 
ordered to ground arms, throw down their blankets, and face 
to the right about. In this position they were fired upon, and 
nearly every man killed ! 

Colonels Fannin and Ward were from Georgia, as were many 
of their men, who had gone out to aid the Texans in their 
struggle for independence. There were men with them, and 
with General Houston, their leader, from almost every State, — 
several from Philadelphia : hence the deep and intense interest 
felt in these transactions ; but tliey were such as could not fail 
to shock the feelings of every one by their horrid barbarity. 

Colonel Crockett had gone out to join the Texans, and was 
one of the victims of the bloody massacre at the Alamo. " He 
was found within the Alamo, lying on his back, his bowie-knife 
in his hand, a dead Mexican lying across his body, and twenty- 
two more lying pell-mell before him." He had evidently 
maintained a desperate fight to the last, and had sold his life 
dearly. 

Shortl}^ after these tragic scenes had occurred, Santa Anna 
with his whole army attacked the small force under General 
Houston, at San Jacinto, and a desperate and bloody battle, 
lasting two days, 20th and 2 1st of April, 1836, followed, which 
resulted in the total rout and almost entire destruction of the 
Mexican army, and the escape to a wood, and final capture, in 
the fork of a live-oak-tree, of their commander. The watch- 
word of this fierce and sanguinary battle, " Remember the 
Alamo," fired the hearts and nerved the arms of this little band 
of heroes, who, at least in part, avenged the massacre of their 
brothers, and paid the cowardly, savage INIexicans for their 
treachery. 

It was with no little difficulty that General Houston could 



3i8 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



protect Santa Anna from the fury of his justly incensed officers 
and men, who demanded his life as a forfeit for his treacherous 
brutality to Fannin and Ward and their men. 

General Houston, however, made a treaty with him, which the 
Mexican government repudiated. But the Texans had gained 
their independence ; the Mexicans having had all the experience 
they desired of their fighting qualities at San Jacinto, where 
the victory was a rout and a slaughter, no quarter being given, 
and only those saved their lives who could escape by swift flight 
into the woods and swamps. 

MIRABEAU B. LAMAR. 

Among those who fought with such desperate valor at San 
Jacinto, no one so distinguished himself for daring courage, 
for dashing assaults and furious attacks upon the Mexicans, as 
he whose name stands above. Mr. Lamar went to Texas as a 
literary, not as a military, adventurer ; but, being there at the 
time Santa Anna entered Texas, and fired by the Alamo and 
Goliad massacres, he joined the army as a volunteer private 
upon the eve of the great conflict, and fought, as a private, on 
horseback, on the first day of the battle. But such was the 
valor and ardor he displayed, and so greatly did he distinguish 
himself, that he was placed, by acclamation, in command of the 
mounted men on the morning of the second day; and well did 
he fulfill the expectations of his command. He was everywhere 
in the thickest of the fight, and it was said by eye-witnesses 
that his sword swept off Mexican heads as a man would cut off 
heads of wheat, dashing through the field and cutting right 
and left. At every sweep of his weapon he would yell out, 
"Alamo!" "Fannin!" "Ward!" inspiring his men with his 
own fiery spirit, dashing through the ranks of the Mexicans 
like a tornado of fire, and, finally, pursuing and slaughtering 
them in their flight. He too was a Georgian. 

Mirabeau Bonaparte Lamar: I knew him intimately; a 
nobler, braver, more generous, unselfish heart never beat in 
human breast. He would shed his blood, if necessary, unhesi- 
tatingly, for his friend ; and as readily would he take that of 
an enemy to revenge an insult or a reflection upon his honor 



SEMINOLE WAR. 3IC) 

or courage. He had the spirit of chivalry in him, and was as 
true a knight as ever shivered lance or wore his lady's favor. 

General Lamar — as he became — was subsequently elected 
President of Texas ; but he had less taste for public affairs than 
for literature, — courted the Muses when he should, as a poli- 
tician, have courted the people ; disliked business of all kinds, 
to which he could never give his mind. He came into the 
world at a wrong period ; he was born for a knight-errant, and 
should have lived in the Middle Ages. 

SEMINOLE WAR. 

The Seminole Indians in Florida began committing depre- 
dations, burning houses and destroying plantations, in the fall 
of 1835. These depredations were continued, and became 
so frequent and flagrant that the people had to flee from the 
section of the State about the lakes and the head-waters of the 
St. John's River. Troops were sent to protect them and drive 
the Indians back ; but they could do but little. The Indians 
would dash out of the swamps and morasses, commit depreda- 
tions, and disappear where it was impossible to pursue them. 
The district they occupied was what was called "the Ever- 
glades," which it was not safe for any white man to attempt to 
penetrate. General Clinch, General Gaines, and General Scott 
were successively in command of the troops there, and some 
battles were fought, with varied results, but with little effect in 
repressing the Indians. General Call, Governor of Florida, 
succeeded General Scott in command of the army there, and 
he was succeeded by General Jessup, perhaps others, who found 
more hard work to be done, more obstacles and perplexities to 
be encountered and vigilance required, than laurels to be won. 

The Indians were insignificant in numbers, but full of strat- 
egy, courage, and perseverance. There could be little glory 
won by defeating them, and yet it seemed impossible to con- 
quer them. The war continued for several years, to the great 
annoyance of the people and expense to the nation. The names 
of some of the Seminole chiefs are still familiar as household 
words to us. Among these were Osceola, a very superior man 
and true hero, Billy Bowlegs, Wild Cat, Micanopy, and Alligator. 



320 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



THE SPECIE CIRCULAR. 

I have spoken of the mania of speculation and the inflated 
condition of the currency following the removal of the public 
deposits from the United States Bank to " the pet banks," as 
the State banks selected for deposit were generally called. 

Gold, which it had been predicted would "flow up the Mis- 
sissippi River and glisten through the interstices of the long 
silken purses of every substantial farmer," obstinately refused 
to fulfill the prediction. Prices had become inflated, especially 
of breadstuffs, meat, rents, and, indeed, all the necessaries of 
life ; and this produced great discontent among mechanics 
and the laboring classes generally, the formation of many 
trades-unions, and frequent " strikes" for higher wages. Great 
complaints were made of frauds, favoritism, speculations, and 
monopolies in the purchase of public lands. Capitalists and 
companies, who could command bank credit, went largely into 
the purchase of public lands, interfering injuriously with actual 
settlers, who had only money enough to purchase what they 
wished to cultivate : these speculators buying large tracts and 
holding them at high prices prevented settlement. 

Shortly previous to the close of the first session of the 
Twenty-fourth Congress, Mr. Benton submitted a resolution in 
the Senate, declaring that nothing but gold and silver should 
be received in payment for public lands ; which was rejected. 
But what the Senate refused to do was done by the Executive 
immediately after its adjournment, July ii, 1836, and upon the 
suggestion and inspiration of " Old Bullion," as Mr. Benton 
was called. He states that he was consulted and assisted in 
drawing up the circular known as " the Specie Circular," which 
was nominally issued by the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. 
Woodbury, but was prepared at the White House. 

The " circular" set forth that, in consequence of complaints 
which had been made of frauds, speculations, and monopolies in 
the purchase of the public lands, and the aid which was said to 
have been given to effect these objects by excessive bank credits, 
and dangerous, if not partial, facilities given by the banks, etc., 
it was ordered that from and after the 15th of August, then 



THE SPECIE CIRCULAR. ^21 

next (the circular bore date Jul)- 1 1), nothing but gold and sil- 
ver, and in proper cases Virginia land-scrip, should be received 
in payment for public lands. An actual settler, or a bona fide 
resident of the State in which the land-sales were made, was, 
however, permitted to pay, as heretofore, in bank-bills. 

This was a tremendous bomb thrown without warning into 
the business transactions of the country. It broke the bubble 
of inflation, which the government's own measures had created, 
and produced a sudden collapse. 

The banks at once took the alarm, held on with a tightening 
grasp to the specie in their vaults, called in, as rapidly as they 
could, their loans, and refused further accommodations. Every 
man indebted to a bank was pressed for payment, and the 
pressure became universal. Another "panic" had been brought 
about by what was termed another " experiment" upon the 
currency. A great revulsion took place, property was sacri- 
ficed, and of course prices went rapidly down. The annual 
sales of public land, which formerly amounted to from two to 
four millions of dollars, under the late state of things had run 
up to twenty-five millions of dollars, and a surplus of revenue 
had accumulated in the deposit banks of some twenty-fi\'e or 
thirty millions, which was shortly to be distributed to the States 
under Mr. Clay's bill, now a law, commonly called the Distri- 
bution act. 

In discussing the subject of the Treasury circular in the 
Senate, Mr. Ewing said he had, in a former speech, explained 
the manner in which the public funds, under the present de- 
posit system, were made to pay for the public lands, perform- 
ing a circuit from the deposit banks to the speculator, from 
him to the land-office, and from the land-ofiice to the deposit 
banks again, thus operating the exchange of the public lands 
by millions of acres to large purchasers for mere credit. 

One effect of this circular, he said, had been to banish gold 
and silver. These are never seen at the West ; and a five-dollar 
bill cannot be changed into specie in a ride of thirty miles. 

The wealthy speculator from Boston, New York, Philadel- 
phia, or elsewhere, finds this circular no obstacle in his way, 
as he can easily make an arrangement with any number of 

21 



322 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



men, inhabitants of the State in which he wishes to purchase 
lands, to purchase in their names, — in the name of each one 
three hundred and twenty acres. He uses no specie, yet gets 
all the land he wants ; while others, of less capital and less 
genius, have to lug specie some hundreds of miles, which no 
sooner performs its office by paying for land than it goes back 
again to the East. 

Mr. Ewing's resolutions to repeal the Trcasuiy specie cir- 
cular underwent discussion in both houses of Congress during 
the last session of the Twenty-fourth Congress, occupying a 
considerable portion of the time. 

By the Whigs and the business-men of the country generally 
it was considered a very mischievous measure, pregnant with 
evil consequences to the country, and productive of no good. 
That it produced the serious consequences I have mentioned, 
and attributed to it by the speakers in Congress who advocated 
its repeal, can hardly be questioned ; but a state of things per- 
vaded the country which was a monstrous evil, — the super- 
abundance of bank-paper, the great facility of obtaining it, the 
entire absence of silver and gold, the mania of speculation, and 
the enormously high prices of everything purchasable. 

The object of the circular was to cure this evil ; to restore 
the circulation of the country to its normal condition by driving 
out the superabundant bank-paper and replacing it with specie. 

The remedy, however, was, for a time, worse than the disease. 
It undertook to cure this too suddenly, — all at once, — and the 
effect was what we have seen. Prices were brought down with 
a tremendous jar. 

The bill repealing it passed in the House, 143 to 59; and in 
the Senate, 41 to 5. It was quite probable, from this vote, that 
had the President sent the bill back with his veto it would have 
been passed, his reasons to the contrary notwithstanding. He 
did not, therefore, return it, but put it in his pocket, and sent 
his reasons for not signing it to the " Globe," where they 
were published. The bill not having been sent to him ten 
days before the close of the session, he could retain it till after 
the close of the session without its becoming a law. This 
was called the " Pocket Veto." 



A SCENE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 323 



A SCENE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 

The " scene" I am about to describe was the precursor of 
many others which occurred in subsequent years, each more 
or less dramatic, but all exciting and disreputable. 

On the 6th of February (1837), after sundry petitions had 
been presented by different members for the abolition of slavery 
and the slave-trade in the District of Columbia, — several by 
Mr. Adams, — he presented a petition from nine women of 
Fredericksburg, Virginia, praying Congress to put a stop to 
the slave-trade in the District of Columbia. One of these 
petitions, Mr. Adams said, seemed so strange to him that he 
did not feel perfect security that it was genuine. He then said 
he held in his hand a paper on which, before he presented it, he 
desired to have the decision of the Speaker. It was a petition 
from twenty-two persons declaring themselves to be slaves. 
He wished to know whether the Speaker considered such a 
petition as coming within the order of the House. 

The Speaker said he could not tell until its contents were in 
his possession. 

Mr. Adams said if the paper were sent to the Clerk it would 
be in possession of the House ; if sent to the Speaker, he 
could see its contents. He wished to do nothing but in sub- 
mission to the rules of the House. It had occurred to him 
that the paper was not what it purported to be. He would 
send it to the Chair. 

Objection was made. The Speaker (Mr. Polk) said the cir- 
cumstances of the case were so extraordinary that he would 
take the sense of the House on the course to be pursued. He 
then stated to the House the circumstances as above related, 
and said he desired the sense of the House. 

Mr. Haynes, of Georgia, was astonished that the gentleman 
from Massachusetts should offer such a paper. If he were to 
object to receiving it, it might be giving it more attention than 
it deserved. 

Several Southern members now expressed their astonishment 
and indignation, in fitting terms, that any one should present a 
petition which on its face appeared to come from slaves. After 



324 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



much of this, Mr. Waddy Thompson, of South CaroHna, offered 
a resolution declaring that the Hon. John Quincy Adams, by 
attempting to introduce a petition purporting on its face to 
be from slaves, had been guilty of a gross disrespect to this 
House, and that he be instantly brought to the bar to receive 
the severe censure of the Speaker. 

Mr. Thompson said he felt infinite pain in being forced by 
an imperious sense of duty to present this resolution. He 
spoke of the age of Mr. Adams, and of the stations he had 
filled; but when age is used to throw poisoned arrows it 
ceases to be sacred. The act of the gentleman from Massa- 
chusetts was an insult to a large portion of the members of the 
House. " Does the gentleman know that there are laws in the 
slave States, and here, for the punishment of those who excite 
insurrection ? I can tell him there are such things as grand 
juries; and we may yet see an incendiary brought to condign 
punishment." Mr. Thompson proceeded in this strain, amid 
great manifestation of feeling in the House, for some time, 
when 

Mr. Haynes moved to amend Mr. Thompson's resolution by 
striking out all after the word Resolved, and inserting — 

"That John Quincy Adams, etc., has rendered himself justly 
liable to the severest censure of this House, and is censured 
accordingly, for having attempted to present to the House the 
petition of slaves." 

The House was now in a high state of commotion ; Southern 
members were like a disturbed hive of bees, — restless, excited, 
angry, denunciatory. 

Mr. Granger, of New York, addressed the House, endeavor- 
ing to calm its passions and soothe the irritation of the South, 
but with little effect. He concluded by expressing his regret 
at the occurrence of the morning, and his opinion that the 
gentleman from Massachusetts, so far from rendering the right 
of petition more sacred, had done what was calculated to render 
it a mere bauble 'to be played with. This did not mollify the 
South. 

Mr. Lewis, of Alabama, then offered the following resolution, 
which Mr, Thompson accepted as a modification of his : 



A SCENE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. ->-, 



5 



''Resolved, That John Quincy Adams, by his attempt to in- 
troduce into this Mouse a petition from slaves for the aboHtion 
of slavery in the District of Columbia, committed an outrage on 
the rights and feelings of a large portion of the people of this 
Union, a flagrant contempt on the dignity of this I louse, and, 
by extending to slaves the privilege only belonging to freemen, 
directly invites the slave population to insurrection ; and that 
the said member be forthwith called to the bar of the House 
to be censured by the Speaker." 

Further vehement debate, or rather declamation, followed. 

Mr. Adams now said he had remained mute amid the 
charges of crimes and misdemeanors that had been brought 
against him, and he supposed that if brought to the bar of 
the House he should be struck mute by the previous question 
before he had an opportunity to say a word in his own defense. 
He had not presented the petition, but merely asked of the 
Speaker whether he considered the paper he described, and 
which he held in his hand, included within the general order 
of the Piouse that all petitions, memorials, resolutions, and 
papers relating to or upon the subject of slavery should be laid 
on the table. He intended to take the decision of the Speaker 
before he went one step towards presenting, or offering to pre- 
sent, that, petition. He said, in reference to the resolution of 
Mr. Lewis, that it stated what was not the fact, namely, that it 
was for the abolition of slavery, — when, in truth, it was for Jiis 
own expulsion! He should not present the petition until the 
decision of the House was announced. 

Mr. Adams further said it was well known to all the mem- 
bers that from the day he entered the House to this time he 
had invariably declared his opinion adverse to the abolition of 
slavery in the District of Columbia. But he had maintained 
the right of petition. There is no absolute monarch on earth 
who is not compelled by the constitution of his country to 
receive the petitions of his people. The Sultan of Constanti- 
nople cannot walk the streets and refuse to receive petitions 
from the meanest and vilest in the land. Objections had been 
made to the petition of the nine women on the ground that 
they were prostitutes. In reply to this, he asked, Does our law 



326 



PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 



require that before presenting a petition you shall look into 
it and see whether it comes from the virtuous, the great, the 
mighty ? 

He said he was still waiting the decision of the Speaker. If 
the House thought proper to receive the petition, he should pre- 
sent it. 

Further acrimonious declamation followed, and additional 
resolutions, modifying those before the House, were submitted 
and discussed, the House being in an uproar until the close 
of the day. On the meeting of the House on the 7th, the 
unfinished business came up. Mr. Drumgoole, of Virginia, 
offered a resolution in substance declaring that by what he had 
done (reciting it) Mr. Adams " Jiad given color to an idea!' that 
slaves have the right of petition, etc., and that the said John 
Quincy Adams receive the censure of the House. More violent 
speeches were then made by sundry members. 

Mr. Robertson, of Virginia, was the only Southern man, and 
Mr. Graves, of Kentucky, the only Southwestern man, who in 
any manner exculpated Mr. Adams. Mr. Robertson said the 
gentleman had cleared himself of any supposed contempt by 
disclaiming any intentional disrespect. But it may be said that 
he is not censured for asking the question of the Speaker, 
which he did, but because that question gives color to the idea 
that slaves may petition, etc. Absurd and offensive as such an 
idea is, he had yet to learn that members of Congress may be 
proceeded against criminally for intimating or uttering opinions 
here which a majority may consider heretical. 

Mr. Graves thought that the adoption of a resolution of cen- 
sure on the venerable gentleman from Massachusetts, taken in 
connection with the severe censure which Southern gentlemen, 
in this debate, have cast on those deluded citizens of the North 
who have sent their petitions to us, would be the most unwise 
step that could be taken by that body. No community could 
be driven, and no denunciations would convince them that they 
were in error. 

Mr. Lincoln, of Massachusetts, at length, stirred by the 
torrent of invective that was so freely cast upon his colleague 
and the North, rose in defense of both, — the first Northern 



A SCENE IN THE HOUSE OE REPRESENTATIVES. 327 

man, except Mr. Granger, who had participated in the general 
melee. He said that such was the reverence due to the age of 
his colleague, such the respect paid to his character and the 
remembrance of his public services, so high the confidence in 
his integrity and the purity of his motives, so beloved and 
honored was he at home, and so known to fame abroad, that, 
whatever the action of the House upon these resolutions, there 
are those, and they are not a ^q\w, here and elsewhere, who will 
deeply sympathize with him in the trial to which he is now 
informally subjected. He declared that he planted himself by 
his side on the principles for which he was contending, though 
he needed not his aid, being abundantly able to defend and 
sustain himself 

Mr. Thompson, of South Carolina, again came into the field, 
full of zeal for the South and of acrimony towards the North. 
He declared that slaves had no right to petition. They were 
property, not perso?is ; they had no political rights, and therefore 
Congress has no power in regard to them, and no right to 
receive their petitions. 

Replying to Mr. Lincoln, he said, " The gentleman has given 
us another eulogy upon these amiable fiends, — these most re- 
spectable assassuis [the petitioners of the North]. As a class, 
tlicy are fools or knaves ; and there is no escape from the 
alternative." 

Mr. Thompson went on in a long speech in a similar strain 
of acrimonious vilification of the North, but especially of Mas- 
sachusetts, raking the history of the past to find acts which 
cast odium upon her people, from the time the Pilgrims landed 
at Plymouth down to the present day. 

It was his avowed intention to wound; he declared in the 
outset that he should not bate his blows. Nor did he. 

But there were sons of the North, and of Massachusetts, 
present, who could deal blows too, — who could strike as hard 
and hit as tender points as Mr. Waddy Thompson, as he soon 
found to his cost. Her champion now appeared. 

Mr. Cushing, of Massachusetts, said the sentiments uttered 
by his colleague, Mr. Lincoln, did honor to his head and heart. 
Thev met his cordial concurrence: to no resolution of censure. 



328 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



based on the matters now before them, to no rebuke, express 
or implied, to no action of the House that shall touch his col- 
league (Mr. Adams) with so much as the uttermost edge of the 
shadow of indignity, would he give his assent. 

Referring to the speech of Mr. Thompson, he said that, having 
gained the floor, he should feel that he was a recreant craven if 
he could permit any personal consideration to repress the feel- 
ings which had been excited by the stormy progress of this 
question, and the menace, defiance, and crimination which had 
been thrown at the people of the North. 

Like his colleague (Mr. Lincoln), he, too, could say he was 
from the frigid North. But we from the North could pour 
forth declamation as little to the purpose as others do, if it 
comported with our notions of good taste or good sense. They 
might be less irritable than those with whom they were asso- 
ciated ; but they were accustomed to think that in questions 
like the present, involving the first principles of civil liberty and 
the dearest rights of mankind, passionate invective, rash menace, 
and random exclamation are poor substitutes for reason and 
argument. He had been keenly sensible to the wrongs heaped 
upon the North in this debate, and he meant to vindicate the 
ri":hts of his constituents and the fame of his forefathers. He 
did not wonder at the sensitiveness of Southern members in 
regard to the general question of slavery. It was indeed a 
great and grave question, and should be treated with calm 
gravity. He asked in all sincerity if they supposed that angry 
attacks on the freedom of opinion, of speech, of the press, of 
petition, of debate, are likely to check the spread in the United 
States of that disapprobation of slavery which is but another 
form of the love of liberty. Gentlemen who pursue the course 
proposed towards his colleague, and who suffer their feelings 
to hurry them into transports of violence here, greatly misjudge 
in the measures they adopt if they would allay the fever of 
abolition. 

But it is not necessary to give an abstract of the whole of this 
caustic speech, in which Mr. Gushing, after defending Massa- 
chusetts from the charges brought against her, carried the war 
into the domains of her assailants, bringing crimination for 



A SCENE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. ^OQ 

crimination, charge for charge, and obloquy for obloquy, 
showing that the North could give as well as receive blows. 

With Mr. Cushing's speech ended the second day spent on 
this business. The next, the 8th, was devoted to counting the 
votes for President and Vice-President. 

On the 9th the subject was resumed, and another day .spent 
in clamorous, violent declamation, in altering, modifying, and 
taking the votes on the resolutions before the House, and in 
listening to Mr. Adams in his own defense. The House would 
now have laid the mistake on the table, having become tired 
of it, if not disgusted with it ; but Mr. Adams objected, and de- 
sired to be heard. Of this defense it is hardly necessary, at this 
day, to speak ; yet a few words. Mr. Adams stated that it had 
not yet been decided whether he might present the petition 
or not ; which was the real question before the House. He 
spoke of the various resolutions which came pouring down 
upon him, and the speeches which fell so thickly, — calling him 
infamous, and other hard names. From one quarter of the 
House he heard the cries, " Expel him ! expel him !" All re- 
minded him of the expression of Dame Quickly, "Oh, day and 
night, but these are bitter words !" He referred to Mr. Drum- 
goole's resolution charging him with " giving color to an idea ,'' 
for which it was proposed to censure him ! He commented with 
bitter and scathing force upon the menace of Mr. Thompson 
that there were such things as grand juries, etc. He wished 
to know if there were others who held that a member of Con- 
gress was amenable to a grand jur}- for what he might say or 
do in that hall ! .Vnd he wished the people to know who 
uttered such a sentiment. If a member of the Legislature of 
South Carolina is made amenable not only to the Legislature, 
but to grand and petit juries, he thanked God he was not a 
citizen of that State. 

His remarks created great agitation. 

He said he could not make his defense in any system or 
order, such was the variety and disorder of charges against 
him. When he took up one idea, before he could give color to 
the idea it had already changed its form and color. If he were 
to plead guilty, what is the offense? He was unable to shape 



330 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

his defense, not knowing of what he had been guilty. But he 
begged to say that he should deem it to be the heaviest calamity 
which had ever befallen him in the course of a life checkered 
with many vicissitudes, if a vote of censure from that House 
should pass upon his name. He had been foremost in defending 
its honor and dignity on more than one occasion. Were these 
instances of contempt ? And now was he to be brought to the 
bar for a contempt of the House for doing that which was done 
in the most respectful manner ? — for asking a question of the 
Speaker ? consulting him first on the admissibility of a petition ? 

In conclusion : If the House had suffered the petition to be 
laid on the table, with the multitude of petitions there buried in 
oblivion, no one would have heard of it more. He appealed to 
the House and to the nation that he was not answerable for 
this loss of time. 

The House then voted on the resolutions before it : 

First, " That any member who shall hereafter present any 
petition from the slaves of this Union ought to be considered as 
regardless of the feelings of the House, the rights of the South- 
ern States, and unfriendly to the Union." Yeas 92, nays 105. 

Second, "That the Hon. John Quincy Adams having sol- 
emnly disclaimed all design of doing anything disrespectful to 
the House in the inquiry made of the Speaker, etc., therefore 
all further proceedings in regard to his conduct do now cease." 
Yeas 21, nays 137, — Mr. Adams's friends voting in the nega- 
tive, with a view to give him an opportunity to be heard, of 
which he availed himself It is not necessary to give even a 
synopsis of his defense or remarks: we may be sure he did 
not spare his assailants. 

Subsequently, resolutions were offered, discussed, and vari- 
ously altered, which finally passed. The first resolution was 
preceded by a preamble declaring that, Mr. Adams having 
solemnly disclaimed all design of doing anything disrespectful 
to the House in the inquiry made of the Speaker, etc., therefore — 

"i. Resolved, That this House cannot receive said petition 
without disregarding its own dignity, the rights of a large class 
of citizens of the South and West, and the Constitution of the 
United States." Yeas 160, nays 35. 



A SCEXE IN THE HOUSE OF KEPRESENTATIVES. -. -> j 

" 2. Resolved, That slaves do not possess the right of petition 
secured to the citizens of the United States by the Constitu- 
tion." Yeas 162, nays 18. 

This scene commenced on Monday, February 6, and closed 
with the passage of these resolutions, on Saturday, the iith: 
a week of violent altercations, embittered sectional animosity, 
fierce attacks, angry charges, and the repelling of these by the 
assailed with a spirit less fiery but not less resolute than that 
of their assailants. The storm had exhausted itself chiefly in 
wind, which did little damage to any one, save that it had 
the effect to increase greatly the feeling against slavery at the 
North, and thus to injure the South. The speeches and pro- 
ceedings in this conflict occupy many columns of the "National 
Intelligencer." 

In this memorable onslaught upon Mr. Adams, the Southern 
Hotspurs, who were so eager to fire at him, let their guns off, 
so to speak, at half-cock. They did not wait to see what tiie 
petition was which he did not offer, and which he only made 
an inquiry about of the Speaker, but assumed that it must be 
for the abolition of slavery : they were taken aback, and became 
laughing-stocks, when he informed them that it was for just 
what they were proposing to do, namely, to expel him from 
the House. They were several times, like a pack of hounds, 
" at fault," but still kept baying away. Mr. Dixon H. Lewis, 
one of the clearest-headed men of the party, endeavored to 
restrain the intemperate ardor of some of the less sagacious 
Southern members when he saw them start off in a wrong 
direction, and to give them the true scent by his resolution ; 
but even he was " at fault," and became perplexed. And then 
came Mr. Drumgoole, an experienced parliamentarian, and the 
shrewdest tactician on that side of the House, with a resolution 
charging Mr. Adams with "giving color to an idea;" which 
he most scathingly ridiculed. Mr. Lewis was a man of great 
weight, — to wit, some five hundred pounds, — a mountain of 
flesh and fat; but he had brains too, which also gave him 
weight of a different kind. No ordinary chair could hold him, 
and one had to be manufactured expressly for him. 

It will be seen that in this famous enieute, though the tide 



332 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



seemed at first to be overwhelmingly against Mr. Adams, in 
the end he came off with flying colors, the South being glad 
to escape the biting sarcasms and virulent rhetoric of " the 
old man eloquent" by wisely letting him alone. Besides, they 
found they had made themselves ridiculous, and were glad to 
get out of the scrape.. 

A GLOOMY DAY, AND A DEED OF DARKNESS IN THE SENATE, 

I have, in its proper place, mentioned that on the last day 
of the second session of the Twenty-third Congress, March 3, 
1835, the resolution introduced by Mr. Benton to expunge from 
the Senate journal the resolution passed by the Senate on the 
28th of March, 1834, censuring the President for removing the 
deposits from the United States Bank, was, after the words 
" ordered to be expunged" were stricken out, laid on the table. 
As there mentioned, Mr. Benton immediately gave notice that 
he should again offer the resolution to expunge, etc., at the 
next session of Congress ; and in accordance with said notice 
he again, on the 26th of December, 1836, offered the same 
resolution. 

After the resolution was emasculated and laid on the table 
by the Senate, on the 3d of March, 1835, vigorous efforts were 
made by the administration not only to secure a Democratic 
majority in the Senate, but to get State Legislatures to instruct 
their Senators, especially those who had opposed it, to vote for 
it. The Legislature of Virginia thus instructed her Senators ; 
but John Tyler, refusing to act upon such instructions, resigned, 
and W. C. Rives was elected in his place. By this means a 
majority in the Senate for this famous resolution was secured, 
and it was resolved by its friends that it should be passed. 

It was called up on the 12th of January, by Mr. Benton, who 
supported it in an elaborate, carefully-prepared speech, chiefly 
eulogistic of General Jackson and his administration, the meas- 
ures of which during his eight years' service in the Presidential 
office he reviewed and commended as wise, prudent, and states- 
manlike, claiming that the country under his rule had enjoyed, 
and was now enjoying, a high degree of prosperity. " Gold," 
he said, " after a disappearance of thirty years, is restored to our 



A DEED OE DARKNESS IN THE SENATE. 3,3 

country ;" and, negativing the various charges of the opponents 
of the administration, made from time to time, he alleged that 
" domestic industry is not^ paralyzed ; confidence is iiol de- 
stroyed ; workmen are 7iot mendicants for bread or employment ; 
credit is not extinguished ; prices have not sunk ; grass is not 
growing in the streets of populous cities ; the wharves arc not 
lumbered with decaying vessels; columns of curses rising from 
the bosoms of a ruined and agonized people are not ascending 
to heaven against the destroyer of a nation's felicity and pros- 
perity. On the contrary, the reverse of all this is true." 

Of General Jackson he said, " Great is the influence, great 
the power, greater than any man ever before possessed in our 
America, which lie has acquired over the public mind. The 
mind instinctively dwells on his vast and unprecedented popu- 
larity." 

He closed his remarks with the following memorable ex- 
ordium : 

"And now, sir, I finish the task which, three years ago, I 
imposed on myself Solitary and alone, and amidst the Jeers and 
tajints of my opponents, I put tins ball in ^notion. The people 
have taken it up and rolled it forward, and I am not anything 
but a unit in the vast mass which now propels it. In the name 
of that mass I speak. I demand the execution of the edict of 
the people; I demand the expurgation of that sentence whicii 
the voice of a few Senators, and the power of the confederate, 
the Bank of the United States, has caused to be placed on the 
journal of the Senate, and which the voice of millions of free- 
men has ordered to be expunged from it."* 

* Colonel Benton could have found a precedent for expnitgini^ the jovnnal of a 
legislative body. The Stamp Act of England had deeply stiired llic pcoiije of the 
Colonies, especially in Massachusetts and Virginia, botli of which remonstrated 
against it. But this had no effect. The subject afterwards coming up for discus- 
sion in the House of Burgesses of Virginia, May, 1765, Patrick Ilcniy, " alone, 
unadvised, and unassisted," prepared and offered five resolutions, in substance 
declaring that "we, Englishmen, living in America, have all the rights of English- 
men living in England; that every attempt to invest such power [of taxation] in 
any person or persons whatever, other than the General Assenilily [of the Colony], 
has a manifest tendency to destroy British and American freedom." 

Mr. Henry supported his resolutions in that ferviil and eloi|uent speech which 
acquired historic fame, and in which, upon the ciy of " Treason I" he uttered 



334 



PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 



Mr. Crittenden, of Kentucky, next addressed the Senate, on 
the same day, in opposition to the resolution, and Mr. Dana, of 
Maine, next day, 13th, in support of it. Mr. Preston, of South 
Carolina, followed, in a strain of eloquence inspired by his deep 
feeling of aversion to this whole proceeding. Referring to 
Virginia, his native State, having instructed her Senators to 
vote for expunging, he said he mourned from the bottom of 
his heart the instructions under which the Senator (Mr. Rives) 
felt himself constrained to vote for this extraordinary reso- 
lution. 

Mr. Rives replied, but his remarks were never reported. 

Mr. Moore, of Alabama, reminded his colleague. Colonel 
William R. King, that when this subject was last up his col- 
league had agreed with him, and even himself moved to strike 
out the words "ordered to be expunged." His colleague and 
himself then followed the lead of that stern and inflexible 
patriot (Judge White, of Tennessee) who now opposed this 
resolution. 

It was thus shown, what the record also exhibited, that 
Colonel King, of Alabama, was one of those whom the dis- 
cipline of party compelled to face to the right about, take the 
back track, and wheel into line. 

Mr. Southard, of New Jersey, was desirous to speak, and, 
it being late, moved that the Senate adjourn; but, the motion 
failing, he declined speaking at so late an hour. But Mr. 
Calhoun, who had sat all day in his seat, scarcely moving, an 
attentive listener, an expression of unusual gravity pervading his 
sallow countenance, scarcely exchanging a word with any one, 
but communing with his own thoughts, now slowly rose, in 
the dim twilight, and, standing a minute or two, as if to collect 
himself, spoke in a calm, deliberate, and impressive manner. 
Every ear was open, and every eye intent upon the speaker, 
who might have been taken for one of the prophets of old, 

the hold defiance, " If that is treason, make the most of it." Under the effect 
of his glowing patriotism and burning eloquence, his resolutions were carried. 

But the Tories, who then were the leading men and men of power, became 
alanned, and, after a violent struggle, succeeded in expunging Mr. Henry's patriotic 
resolutions. Colonel Benton did not quote this. 



A DEED OF DARKNESS I A' THE SEX ATE. •>-.- 

such was his venerable and picturesque appearance, heightened 
by his full, bushy head of h.u'i-, his long graj' locks hanging 
wildly down his neck and over his shoulders, his deep-sunken 
but still penetrating eye lighted up with the fires within. 

" Sir," he began, "there are some questions so plain that they 
cannot be argued ; nothing can make them more plain ; and 
this is one. No one not blinded by party zeal can possibly be 
insensible that the measure proposed is a violation of the Con- 
stitution. I know perfectly well that gentlemen have no liberty 
to vote otherwise than they will. They are coerced b)' an 
exterior power. They try, indeed, to comfort their consciences 
by saying that it is the voice of the people. It is no such thing. 
We all know how these legislative returns have been obtained. 
It is by dictation from the White House. The voice of the 
PEOPLE ! I see before me Senators who could not swallow that 
resolution when it was first introduced : has it changed its 
nature since ? Not at all. But executive power has interposed. 
Talk to me of the voice of the people ! It is the combination 
of patronage and power which coerces this body to a palpable 
violation of the Constitution. 

^ ;■; ^ ^ ^: * * * 

"But why do I waste my breath? I know it is all utterly 
vain. The day is gone ; night approaches, and night is suitable 
to the dark deed meditated. The act must be performed ; and 
it is an act which will tell on the political histor)' of this coun- 
try forever. . . . The act originates in pure, unmixed, personal 
idolatry. It is the melancholy evidence of a broken spirit, 
ready to bow down at the feet of power. The removal of the 
deposits was an act such as might have been perpetrated in 
the days of Pompey or Cajsar, but an act like this could never 
have been consummated by a Roman Senate until the times of 
Caligula and Nero." 

Mr. Calhoun's short, compact sentences, uttered in a sharp, 
incisive manner, with scarcely a single gesture of the hand or 
movement of the body, except as he turned to look at Senators 
on whose course he was commenting, fell like sledge-hammer 
blows upon heads bowed in very shame at what they were about 
to do under compulsion. 



336 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



The subject did not come up in the Senate on Saturday, the 
14th. But so vigorous had been the opposition to the passage 
of the resokition, and so odious with the intelHgent portion 
of the country was the idea of expunging the records of the 
Senate, that its leading advocates were not without some 
anxiety in regard to their abihty to carry it through ; and Mr. 
Benton relates how Senators were drilled preparatory to voting. 
"They were called together," he informs us, "at night, at the 
then famous restaurant of Boulanger, giving the assemblage the 
air of a convivial entertainment : it continued," he says, " till 
midnight, and required all the moderation, tact, and skill of the 
prime movers to obtain and maintain the union upon details, 
on the success of which the fate of the measure depended." 
But the form of the resolution and the process of expurgation 
were finally, under the influence of good wine, oysters, and 
terrapin, some coaxing and some threatening, agreed to, "each 
one severally pledging himself to it," and that there should be 
no adjournment of the Senate after it was called up until it was 
passed, and that it should be called up on Monday morning, 
January i6th, the caucus being held on Saturday night, the 14th. 

On Monday morning, therefore, it having become generally 
known that the expunging resolution was to be taken up, dis- 
cussed, and passed on that day, or before the Senate adjourned, 
the galleries were crammed at a very early hour, the circular 
gallery being reserved for, and filled by, ladies. The subject 
created intense interest. 

The resolution was called up by Mr. Benton, after the morn- 
ing hour, and the discussion proceeded during the whole day, 
the interest deepening as the hours wore away. Mr. Clayton 
and Mr. Bayard, of Delaware, Mr. Kent, of Maryland, Judge 
White, of Tennessee, Mr. Ewing, of Ohio, and Mr. Clay, were 
among those who spoke this day in opposition to, and Mr. 
Buchanan and one or two others in favor of, the resolution. 
The spectators in the galleries held tenaciously to their seats 
during the whole day and till twelve o'clock at night. 

After the day was far spent and the shades of night came on, 
Judge White, the life-long friend of Andrew Jackson, addressed 
the Senate. His tall and emaciated form, his venerable appear- 



A DEED OF DARKNESS IN THE SENATE. ■y-.-j 

ance, his long, white, flowing locks thrown back from his fore- 
head, made him an object of peculiar interest and profound 
respect. Every one, except the expurgators, felt that no 
measure could be right which such an impersonation of truth 
and sincerity opposed, and in thus opposing was reluctantly 
compelled, by an imperious sense of duty, to array himself 
against an old friend. But his voice was unheeded ; and so 
would have been the voice of the archangel Gabriel, had he 
descended from heaven and addressed the Senate. 

The debate went on till very late at night, the crowd in the 
galleries and lobbies becoming densely packed, and every inch 
of the Senate floor being occupied by members of the House 
and by ladies who had been admitted by the courtesy of the 
Senate. The scene was grand, impressive, and imposing : it 
was even solemn. It seemed as if some terrible rite was to 
be performed, some bloody sacrifice about to be made upon 
the altar of Moloch. 

A pause in the debates occurring, and a dead silence prevail- 
ing, all eyes were turned to Mr. Clay, who was the great leader 
of the opposition, and had not yet spoken. Slowly his tall form 
rose. There was a gentle bustle, as if all were striving to get a 
good view of him. He waited a minute or two, and the Senate 
became still as death. Upon no occasion in his life, probably, 
did he feel more deeply the importance of the subject to be dis- 
cussed, or the solemnity of the occasion. It was another great 
battle between him and his implacable enemy Andrew Jackson, 
— one of a series which began in 1825 and ended only with the 
death of his indomitable foe. 

Mr. Clay appeared unusually grave. He at first spoke in a 
subdued tone ; yet such was the peculiarly clear, silvery, sono- 
rous quality of his voice that every word could be distinctly 
heard by eveiy one in the chamber. 

He commenced by saying that, considering that he was the 
mover of the resolution of March, 1834, and the consequent re- 
lation in which he stood to the majority of the Senate by whose 
vote it was adopted, he felt it to be his duty to say something 
on this expunging resolution. He referred to the action of the 
Senate at the close of the last Congress, in laying the resolu- 

22 



338 



PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 



tion of expurgation on the table. That, he had supposed, was 
the final disposition of it. But since then successful efforts 
had been made to change the political character of the Senate, 
by the use of such means as were at the command of those 
in power, and it was now the design of the advocates of this 
measure to bring it to an absolute conclusion. 

After taking a retrospect of the causes which had led to the 
passage of his resolution, and speaking of what was now pro- 
posed to be done to wipe out that just condemnation of the 
President's unwarrantable act of removing the public deposits, 
Mr. Clay said, " I put it to the calm and deliberate consideration 
of the majority if they are ready to pronounce for all time 
that, whoever may be President, the Senate shall not dare to 
remonstrate against any Executive usurpation whatever. For 
one, I will not." 

Of the President he said, " In one hand he holds the purse, 
and in the other brandishes the sword, of the country. Myriads 
of dependants and partisans, scattered over the land, are ever 
ready to sing hosannas to him and to laud to the skies what- 
ever he does. He has swept over the government during the 
last eight years like a tropical tornado. . . . What object of his 
ambition is unsatisfied ? When disabled from age any longer 
to hold the sceptre of power, he designates his successor, and 
transmits it to his favorite. What more does he want ? Must 
we blot, deface, and mutilate the records of the country to punish 
the presumptuousness of expressing an opinion contrary to his 
own ? ... Is it your design to stigmatize us ? You cannot. 

' Ne'er yet did base dishonor blur our name.' 

"Standing securely upon our conscious rectitude, and bear- 
ing aloft the shield of the Constitution, your puny efforts are 
impotent, and we defy all your power. Put the majority of 
1834 in one scale, and that by which this expunging resolution 
is to be carried in the other, and let truth and justice in heaven 
above and on earth below, and liberty and patriotism, decide the 
preponderance." 

This challenge was uttered in a tone of proud, lofty, and 



A DEED OF DARKNESS LY THE SE.VAJ^E. ■^■^f^ 

indomitable defiance, and with an air of conscious, undeniable 
superiority. 

" Black lines !" exclaimed Mr. Clay. " Sir, let the Secretary 
preserve the pen with which he may inscribe them. . . . And 
hereafter, when we shall lose the form of our free institutions, 
some future monarch, in gratitude to those by whose means 
he has been enabled upon the ruins of civil liberty to erect a 
throne, and to commemorate this expunging resolution, may 
institute a new order of knighthood, under the appropriate 
name of ' The Knights of the Bl.-vck Lines.' 

"But why should I detain the Senate? The decree has 
gone forth. The deed is to be done, — that foul deed which 
all the multitudinous seas' will ' never wash clean from their 
hands.' Proceed, then : do the noble work before you ; and 
when you have perpetrated it, go home to the people and tell 
them what a glorious work you have performed !" 

Mr. Clay was never more impressive than on this occasion ; 
never bore himself more loftily, and never had greater occasion 
to feel the towering eminence he occupied over the expungcrs, 
whom he looked doxvn upon. Mr. Benton admits that his 
speech " was grand and affecting." 

The expungers had the numbers; but the talent, the elo- 
quence, the moral power, " not an unequal match for numbers," 
were arrayed against them ; and against them, also, were the 
sympathies of four-fifths of those present, and nearly the whole 
intelligent, educated portion of the people. 

Mr. Buchanan, the most faithful of partisans, the most ready 
and willing to put his shoulder to the wheel when the party 
needed help, followed Mr. Clay in a speech of an hour and a 
half in support of the expunging resolution. He considered 
the question before the Senate most grave and solemn. It was 
in fact, if not in form, the trial of the Senate for having unjustly 
and unconstitutionally tried and condemned the President. Ik- 
then asked who was the President of the United States, and 
answered the question by a glowing eulogy of General Andrew 
Jackson.'^ He then reviewed Mr. Clay's charges against the 
President in connection with the doings of the Bank of the 
* Which Gcneial Jackson wouKl never reciprocate. 



340 



PUBLIC MEN AND E VENTS. 



United States, the re-chartering of the bank, and the vetoing 
of the bill by " the old Roman ;" accused the bank of enter- 
ing the arena of politics for the purpose of defending itself 
and attacking the President, and arraigned it for the policy- 
it had pursued financially, which provoked the President to 
remove from its vaults the public deposits. This was a blow 
from which it never recovered. It was the club of Hercules 
with which he slew the Hydra. For this the President was 
not only justified, but deserved the eternal gratitude of his 
country. For this the Senate had condemned him ; and this 
condemnation was now about to be expunged from the Senate's 
journal. 

Mr. Bayard took the floor after Mr. Buchanan. He did not 
intend to inquire into the motives which moved gentlemen to 
support this resolution. The motives of every man are his in- 
dividual property. He could not say that the act which is now 
required to be done is a sacrifice to the Moloch of party spirit. 
He could not say that it is homage to an idol, nor could he 
say that it is intended to smooth the mane and calm the roar 
of the lion. Mr. Bayard then went into a review of the whole 
subject, and examined also the general character of the ad- 
ministration ; remarking that " one of the strongest objections 
he had to the course of the present administration was its con- 
stant effort to array the' different portions of society against 
each other, and its habit of appealing for support to the worst 
passions and prejudices of our nature." 

The debate was further continued by Mr. Hendricks against, 
and by Mr. Strange in favor of, the expunging resolution: the 
latter in a long speech. 

Mr. Ewing, of Ohio, whose mental powers well corresponded 
with his physical proportions, closed the debate, speaking for 
an hour or more with great force. 

Mr. Ewing said he envied not the triumph of him who had 
pressed forward this resolution against the opinions and feel- 
ings and consciences of those whom he had found means to 
compel to its support, which he had urged on with passions 
fierce, vindictive, furious ; still less did he envy the condition of 
those who were compelled to bow their necks to the yoke and to 



A DEED OF DARKNESS IN THE SENATE. -> ^i 

go onward, against all those feelings and motives which should 
direct the actions of an enlightened and conscientious legislator. 
" Why," continued he, "do I see around me so many pale faces 
and downcast eyes ? Do remorse and repentance go hand in 
hand with the deed ? They are truly objects of pity and com- 
miseration. But the scene is passing, and soon will be passed, 
and its actors must and will be judged by posterity: to that 
posterity, who will judge us when we and our opponents — 
all within the sound of my voice — shall sleep in our graves, we 
solemnly, but confidently, appeal." 

Another pause and profound silence ensued : the clock had 
struck the hour of eleven, and time moved on. There was 
an inquiring look from the expungers, especially towards the 
Senator from Massachusetts. Mr. Webster sat for a few min- 
utes looking around to see whether any other Senator would 
rise. As none did, he rose, with a paper in his hand. " Mid- 
night," says Mr. Benton, "was approaching. The dense masses 
which filled every inch of room in the lobbies and galleries 
remained immovable. The floor of the Senate was crammed 
with privileged persons; it seemed as if all Congress was there." 
Every eye was now turned on Mr. Webster. His dark visage 
seemed to assume a deeper hue. His deep-toned voice became 
almost sepulchral. He spoke low, but distinctly. He said 
that argument was exhausted; more was useless. The deed 
was to be done, and execution was near at hand: midnight was 
approaching, fitting hour for such a deed. As the rules of the 
Senate did not permit a Senator to enter a protest upon the 
journals, he had prepared a protest against this whole pro- 
ceeding for himself and colleague, which he should now read. 
Having read this protest, his duty, he said, was now per- 
formed, and took his seat. 

And now, the vote having been taken, — 24 to 19, — the deed 
was to be done. 

The Secretary brought in the record-book of the Senate. But, 
to avoid witnessing this desecration of the journal, those Sen- 
ators who had opposed the proceeding left the chamber. Open- 
ing the journal at the page which contained the resolution to 
be expunged, the Secretary, in the presence of such members 



342 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

as remained, proceeded to draw black lines entirely around the 
resolution, and to write across it the words, " Expunged by 
order of the Senate, this i6th day of January, 1837." 

No sooner had this been done than a loud, sudden, and con- 
tinued hiss broke forth from various parts of the galleries. The 
pent-up feeling of the people found vent in the only form in 
which they could express their indignation. 

It was, of course, a violation of the rules of the Senate and 
of decorum ; but such was the intensity of the emotion of 
disgust that it would out, in spite of all rules. 

And now came another scene. The Vice-President very 
properly checked the hissing, and the Sergeant-at-arms received 
orders to clear the galleries and arrest any one who had vio- 
lated the rules. A Senator, in great passion, cried out, " The 
Bank ruffians are here ! Arrest them ! seize them ! bring them 
before the Senate ! let them be punished !" or words as nearly 
like these as can be recollected. 

A gentleman by the name of William Lloyd, of Ohio, was 
arrested by the Sergeant-at-arms, and was brought before 
the Senate ; but there was no proof that he had been guilty 
of violating the rules of that body, and he was finally dis- 
charged. 

The names of those who voted for the expunging process 
were published in the Whig papers, in large, full-faced capital 
letters, and with heavy black lines drawn around them, as "The 
Knights of the Black Lines." For awhile they occupied 
" a bad eminence," but Time, which has buried the names, if 
not the memory, of some of the expungers in oblivion, has also 
nearly obliterated from the memory of man the act itself. 
Though every actor in that extraordinary scene has gone to 
his long home, the record they mutilated on that gloomy 
night still remains to tell the story of its desecration to this 
and all future generations. 

By the expunging of this resolution censuring General Jack- 
son he completely triumphed over his opponents, as he had 
always done through life. It must have been gratifying to him 
to have this censure wiped out by the Senate, just as he was 
about to close his rcigii and retire to the Hermitage for the 



A DEED OF DARKNESS IN THE SENATE. ^^^ 

remainder of his days. That he felt exultant is shown by his 
giving a grand dinner, in a day or two, to the expungcrs and 
their wives. Mr. Benton — "Old Bullion," as he was usually 
called — says "his gratification was extreme. Being too weak 
to sit at the table, he only met the company, placed t/ic luad 
expungcr in his chair, and withdrew to his sick-chamber." 
Thus was Mr. Benton honored for the part he had taken. 

The feelings of the better portion of the people of the United 
States — of all except the " whole hog" Jackson men — on this 
occasion are forcibly expressed in the following letter, ad- 
dressed to Mr. Clay by Chancellor Kent, of New York, \-ery 

soon after the transaction : 

" New York, February 20, 1837. 

"My dear Sir, — I hope I shall not be deemed too obtru- 
sive, but I cannot refrain from declaring my admiration of the 
speech delivered by you in the Senate, in January last, on the 
expunging resolution. My sympathies and judgment and 
confidence and patriotism and grief and indignation are with 
you in every point; and if I was in Washington I would go 
directly up to you and give your hand the hearty shake of 
sympathetic feeling. You have vindicated the resolution of 
1834 with irresistible force, and damned the other to ever- 
lasting fame. If you, and such men as you, who are storming 
despotic and servile meanness in the Senatorial hall, have no 
other recompense, it may possibly give you some consolation 
to be assured that you are receiving the silent admiration and 
gratitude of thousands, and by none with more hearty pulsa- 
tion than by 

"Your most respectful and obedient servant, 

"James Kent." 

The state of the country, politically, at this time; the blind 
devotion of a great portion of the people to General Jackson ; the 
belief that he could do no wrong, or that, if he did, it was with 
honest intentions, and therefore not to be censured ; the com- 
plete ascendency of the Executive ; his usurpations of power; 
his ebullitions of temper and restiveness when his will was in 
the least checked, thwarted, or questioned ; the absolute and 



244 • PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

abject fear in which his political friends stood of him ; the rigid 
requirement of the party of unquestioning submission to what- 
ever were its behests ; the implicit obedience exacted from all 
executive officers, from the highest to the lowest ; the unhesi- 
tating dismissal of all who did not promptly obey ; the denun- 
ciation and proscription of all who did not conform to the pre- 
vailing creed, or who attempted to maintain an independent 
opinion ; the bestowal of liberal, and even profuse, rewards 
upon the most faithful and subservient, — all this was calcu- 
lated to dishearten honest, independent, patriotic statesmen, 
and drive them into retirement. No wonder the most eminent 
felt despondent, and almost despaired of the republic. A letter 
written by Mr. Clay at this time to his friend Francis Brooke 
strongly expresses this sad feeling. He says, — 

" Mr. Webster retires positively ; Mr. Ewing is ousted ; and 
Leigh and Clayton and Mangum and Porter are gone. What 
good can I do, what mischief avert, by remaining ?" . . . 

Mr. Clay and Mr. Webster both intended to withdraw from 
public life, discouraged and disheartened and sickened and 
calumniated and abused as they were. But the friends of both, 
and of the country, remonstrated, and implored them to remain, 
and not to give up the ship. Fortunately, they reconsidered 
their resolution, and remained. 

Happily for the country, this state of things was drawing to a 
close. The constitutional term of him whose will was the law 
of his partisans and, when they were in the majority in both 
branches of Congress, of the whole country, was about to ex- 
pire ; and though his successor might be ambitious to " tread 
in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor," his stride fell far 
short of those enormous " footsteps ;" and though the sceptre 
so powerfully and mercilessly wielded by his predecessor might 
pass into his hands, they were powerless to wield it. Fortu- 
nately for the country, the Jackson Dynasty could not bo 
perpetuated by a Van Buren. 



GENERAL JACKSON. 



345 



GENERAL JACKSON RETURNS TO THE HERMITAGE. A SKETCH OF 

HIM. — HIS DEATH. 

Up to this time General Jackson has been the principal 
figure in these reminiscences. But his second Presidential 
term closed on the 3d day of March, 1837, and, after attending 
the inauguration of his successor, whom he himself had made 
such, he left Washington for his residence, the Hermitage, near 
Nashville, never again to revisit the national capital. 

For good or for evil, or a mixture of both, his record was 
made, and not liable to be expunged. By that posterity will 
judge him more impartially than we can, who lived during his 
time, took part in public affairs, or at least a lively interest in 
the various political questions which then divided parties, and 
judge of public men and measures as they were seen from a 
partisan stand-point. 

General Jackson was a remarkable man : remarkable, first, for 
an indomitable will ; remarkable, second, for his sagacity in 
judging men, his clear insight into human character and the 
motives which actuate men ; remarkable, in the third place, for 
his great moral and physical courage ; remarkable, in the fourth 
place, that he never took a backward step. Whatever he fully 
determined to do, he persevered in until it was accomplished, 
stand who would in his way. It was flatteringly said by his 
admiring friends that he was "an old Roman," and that he 
was " born to command." Much as there was of obsequious- 
ness in these expressions, which did not fail to reach his ears, 
there was still more of truth. It cannot be denied that " he 
was bountifully endowed by Providence with those high gifts 
which qualified him to lead, both as a soldier and a statesman;" 
and he had many of the noble qualities which we usually at- 
tribute to the " old Roman." Me was restive of restraint, con- 
tradiction, opposition, or censure, and looked upon all who 
indulged in either as personal enemies ; and, having a large 
share of combativeness, he was pretty sure to throw down 
the gage of battle to all such. But to his trusted friends his 
kindness and gentleness, his affability and frankness, were 
unbounded. 



346 PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 

That he was patriotic, no one can doubt. That all the meas- 
ures he adopted he believed to be for the best interests of the 
country, I do not doubt ; though his strong feelings of hostility 
to Mr. Clay, and his antagonism to the opposition, often blinded 
his judgment and induced him to adopt and persevere in meas- 
ures which were highly injurious to the country ; his enmities 
being as powerful in moving him as his desire to promote the 
public interests, sometimes perhaps even more so, — as, for in- 
stance, in the war he waged against the United States Bank, 
and in uttering, perseveringly, charges of bargain and corrup- 
tion against Messrs. Adams and Clay, but especially the latter, 
after he had failed to prove anything of the kind. 

That some, perhaps many, of his measures which were 
strongly opposed by the Whigs were wise and beneficial to the 
country the test of time has proven, — one of these being what 
was called the " Sub-Treasury," or " Independent Treasury," 
still in existence. 

General Jackson's popularity was most extraordinary ; espe- 
cially with the less informed, — "the unsophisticated classes" of 
people, — with whom he was, indeed, an idol. It was a common 
remark, and sometimes the boast of his supporters, that " his 
popularity could stand anything ;" and there was in it more 
truth than boasting. No matter what he did, with the classes 
I have mentioned, he "could do no wrong." They believed 
him honest and patriotic ; that he was the friend of the people, 
battling for them against corruption and extravagance, and 
opposed only by dishonest politicians. They loved him as 
their friend, and admired him as all admire heroic characters, — 
men of " iron will" and courage, who grapple with and over- 
come all opposing obstacles. He seemed to have an intuitive 
knowledge of the people, — how to move them and to win their 
confidence, as was evinced in his Dauphin County letter, and 
in his communication to the Legislature of Tennessee resign- 
ing his seat in the Senate. His power over his party was 
absolute, and enabled him to crush any one who manifested a 
disposition to act independently, or who failed to support any 
one of his measures ; and this was done so promptly, remorse- 
lessly, and effectually as to strike terror into others. The dis- 



GENERAL JACKSON. 3^7 

cipline of his party was the discipHnc of his arni)-, — the head 
only must command, all below implicitly obey, and every 
deserter be shot. No doubt the effect of this discipline was to 
give strength and unity to the party. It was no uncommon 
thing for members of the party, in conversation with gentle- 
men opposed to them, to condemn earnestly a government 
measure and yet to vote faithfully for it. And the explanation 
was that though they deemed it wrong and injurious to the 
country, yet to vote against their party or an Executive measure 
would be committing political suicide. 

General Jackson's whole Presidential term of eight years was 
an unceasing conflict with Henry Clay, the Bank of the United 
States, — or, more accurately speaking, Nicholas Biddle, — and 
John C. Calhoun ; each and all of whom he overcame, attaining 
every object he aimed at, even the election of a successor desig- 
nated by himself, and the expunging from the records of the 
Senate of the resolution of censure introduced by Mr. Clay, sup- 
ported by Mr. Webster and Mr. Calhoun, and passed by the 
Senate, so obnoxious to him. 

This was his crowning triumph, and one nearest his heart, if 
we except the election of his favorite, Mr. Van Buren, as his 
successor. These triumphs were due to the facts I have men- 
tioned, — his great skill in controlling public opinion and winning 
popular favor; his disciplining and governing his party; his 
bold and daring measures ; his having around him men unsur- 
passed for shrewdness and ability as political managers and 
writers, and the implicit fidelity and devotion with which they 
executed his known wishes. The able pens of Benton, William 
B. Lewis, Amos Kendall, Blair, and Eaton were ever ready and 
ever active. The "Globe" was a power, and gave the cue in 
regard to all political matters to the Jackson press in ever>- 
part of the United States. It was fierce and merciless in its 
assaults upon prominent individuals, especially Mr. Clay, and 
any one upon whom General Jackson's wrath had fallen, as in 
the case of Mr. Calhoun. With the venerable Judge White, 
one of the purest and most respected men in the nation, between 
whom and himself a life-long friendship had existed, he did 
not hesitate to fall out, because, instead of supporting his 



348 



PUBLIC MEN AND EVENTS. 



favorite, Mr. Van Buren, for President, he became a candidate 
himself; and, as a punishment for his disloyalty, the Legislature 
of Tennessee adopted such resolutions of instruction as they 
knew the Judge could not obey, and, as an alternative, would 
resign his seat in the Senate. 

In conclusion, it may be said that every principle which 
General Jackson announced before his election as President 
— namely, that of destroying " the monster, party',' by selecting 
members of the cabinet from both parties indiscriminately, 
that of holding the office of President for one term only, that 
of the non-appointment of members of Congress to office during 
the term for which they were elected and for two years there- 
after, and that of not seeking the office of President — was, after 
his election, cast aside and utterly disregarded. 

On retiring, he followed the example of General Washington, 
and issued an address to the people of the United States, which 
probably not one in a thousand of the people now living ever 
saw or heard of Born on the 15th day of March, 1767, he 
died on the 8th day of June, 1845, 

Parton, in his " Life of Jackson," has thus truthfully and skill- 
fully analyzed and depicted him : 

" No man will ever be able quite to comprehend Andrew 
Jackson who has not personally known a Scotch-Irishman. 
More than he was anything else, he was a North-of-Irelander. 
A tenacious, pugnacious race ; honest, yet capable of dissimu- 
lation ; often angry, but most prudent when most furious ; 
endowed by nature with the gift of extracting from every affair 
and every relation all the strife it can be made to yield ; at 
home and among dependants, all tenderness and generosity ; 
to opponents, violent, ungenerous, prone to believe the very 
worst of them ; a race that means to tell the truth, but, when 
excited by anger or warped by prejudice, incapable of either 
telling, or remembering, or knowing the truth; not taking 
kindly to culture, but able to achieve wonderful things without 
it; a strange blending of the best and the worst qualities of 
two races. Jackson had these traits in an exaggerated degree : 
as Irish as though he were not Scotch ; as Scotch as though 
he were not Irish." 



GENERAL JACKSON. 349 

"The border warfare of the Revolution," says Parton, 
"whirled him hither and thither; made him fierce and exact- 
ing ; accustomed him to regard an opponent as a foe. They 
who are not for us are against us, and they who are against us 
are to be put to death, was the Carolina doctrine during the 
later years of the war." And it was Jackson's doctrine ever 
after. It was the doctrine enunciated in his first inaugural 
address ; and the doctrine on which " the spoils system," an- 
nounced by Marcy in the Senate, was based. 



END OF VOL. I. 



■,r?. 18 "^'- 



